News for today's 2018

50 arrested in largest anti-Walmart protest

10:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

From The Huffington Post via <a href="http://ourfuture.org/">ourfuture.org</a> “Surrounded by about 100 police officers in riot gear and a helicopter circling above, more than 50 Walmart workers and supporters were arrested in downtown Los Angeles Thursday night as they sat in the street protesting what they called the retailer’s ‘poverty wages.’ Organizers said it was the largest single act of civil disobedience in Walmart’s 50-year history. The 54 arrestees, with about 500 protesting Walmart workers, clergy and supporters, demonstrated outside LA’s Chinatown Walmart. Those who refused police orders to clear the street after their permit expired were arrested without incident. Those who fail to post $5,000 bail would be jailed overnight, Detective Gus Villanueva, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, told The Huffington Post. Their primary demand to Walmart: pay every full-time worker at least $25,000 a year.”

From The Huffington Post via ourfuture.org“Surrounded by about 100 police officers in riot gear and a helicopter circling above, more than 50 Walmart workers and supporters were arrested in downtown Los Angeles Thursday night as they sat in the str…

What Tuesday's election results really mean

12:54 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/010711-robert-reich-092813.jpg" title="Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)" width="400" /> Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)</div> <div class="txtimg"> <div class="txtauthor"></div><div class="txtauthor">By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog 06 November 13  <a href="http://www.readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org</a> <img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-P.jpg" />undits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey as a "return to the center" of American politics are confusing the "center" with big business and Wall Street. A few decades ago McAuliffe would be viewed as a right-wing Democrat and Christie as a right-wing Republican. Both garnered their major support from corporate America, and both will reliably govern as fiscal conservatives who won't raise taxes on the wealthy. Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right. The biggest game-changer, though, is Bill de Blasio, the mayor-elect of New York City, who campaigned against the corporatist legacy of Michael Bloomberg - promising to raise taxes on the wealthy and use the revenues for pre-school and after-school programs for the children of New York's burdened middle class and poor. Those who dismiss his victory as an aberration confined to New York are overlooking three big new things: First, the new demographic reality of America gives every swing state at least one large city whose inhabitants resemble those of New York. Second, de Blasio won notwithstanding New York's position as the epicenter of big business and Wall Street, whose money couldn't stop him. Third, Americans are catching on to the scourge of the nation's raging inequality, and its baleful consequences for our economy and democracy.</div></div>

GOOD NEWS NATIONAL NEWS OPINION SIGN OF THE TIMES What Tuesday's election results really mean

Economist, professor, author and political commentator Robert Reich. (photo: Richard Morgenstein)By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog06 November 13 readersupportednews.orgundits who are already describing the victories of Terry McAuliffe in Virgini…

There is nothing random about LAX shooting

12:41 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="Paul Ciancia (inset) is suspected of killing a TSA officer and wounding two other people at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. (photo: NBC Los Angeles)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/011015-lax-shooter-110313.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="Paul Ciancia (inset) is suspected of killing a TSA officer and wounding two other people at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. (photo: NBC Los Angeles)" width="400" /> Paul Ciancia (inset) is suspected of killing a TSA officer and wounding two other people at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. (photo: NBC Los Angeles)</div> <div class="txtauthor"> </div><div class="txtauthor">By Charles Pierce, Esquire</div><div class="date">03 November 13</div><div class="date"><a href="http://readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org</a> </div>  <img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-I.jpg" />t appears the TSA agent shot this morning four terminals over has died. That was the word carried by dozens of people who had decided to walk out of LAX in search of rental cars and whiskey, whose number I will be joining shortly. (One report has the shooter, in custody, as "a white man in a white shirt." Investigation is ongoing.)  Terminal 7 is gradually coming to life again; flights here will be delayed, but we are not a crime scene, so things likely will get back to normal by nightfall. There are bomb squads with dogs wandering about. The ticketing area is abuzz with low cellphone conversations reassuring loved ones that everything's okay, and that folks are likely going to be a little late going home. Every now and again, a person in a TSA uniform will wander by. They have the 1000-yard stare going. The shock waves are weaker, but you can still feel them moving through the place. A cop just ran by. Everybody turned and stared. <div class="indent">There already is some talk about this event being a "random" one. But it is not. These things are becoming as regular as rain, as predictable as the summer heat.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The only thing "random" about it is the shooter. He could be anyone, and that's the point. There are people who spend money making sure that he could be anyone, and there's nothing "random" about how they do that.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">There is nothing "random" about this country's ludicrous disinclination to regulate its firearms. There is nothing "random" about the millions of dollars that the NRA spends to convince people that they should have the right to carry their assault weapon anywhere they want to carry it, including into an airport terminal, if they so desire. There is nothing "random" about the politicians who truckle and bow to this lucrative monetization of bloody mayhem.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">These are all deliberate acts with predictable consequences. There is nothing "random" about how we have armed ourselves, and there is nothing "random" about the filigree of high-flown rhetoric with which we justify arming ourselves, and there is nothing "random" about how we learn nothing every time someone who could be anyone decides to exercise his Second Amendment rights by opening fire. There is nothing random about how we got where we are today, here in Terminal 7, where people have sought refuge from the bloodshed, four terminals over. There is nothing "random" at all.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">We have chosen insanity over reason. We have done it with our eyes open. It is time for me to walk out of the airport now.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">I am leaving behind a terrible event. But I am not leaving behind something accidental. I am leaving behind what America has determined must happen from time to time, if we are to be a free people. I am leaving behind what America has determined is part of the cost of being an American. I am leaving behind the blood that I am told I must accept as part of the price of being a member of a free society.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">I am leaving behind a place of death, and I am joining my fellow citizens, as we make an odd pilgrimage out of a place that is now another altar of the blood sacrifice that I am told we must make, regularly, in order to be truly free.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">I am a free citizen, I am told, of the Republic of Murder, my rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Moloch. I am leaving.</div>

HERITAGE NATIONAL NEWS PERSPECTIVE SIGN OF THE TIMES TRUTH WEIRD NEWS There is nothing random about LAX shooting

Paul Ciancia (inset) is suspected of killing a TSA officer and wounding two other people at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. (photo: NBC Los Angeles) By Charles Pierce, Esquire03 November 13readersupportedne…

Proof positive it's time to ban plastic bags

2:42 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div id="main_menu" style="border-top: 2px solid #8cc63f; bottom: 0; margin-left: 10px; position: absolute;"></div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" id="main-content-area" name="main-content-area"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosHkserY11xlvhpudfkxKw3_OgqePemAlM4X2pEDtJTG3N_YnUdAvk3WE2C90r45NoQP4cMJp-8W2b_BEZPD3F6gAxdhzLmanyd91L5yx3JNAUAjSU_yENVM2DFOWexT937bVsjMEgxwH/s1600/BanPlasticBags110213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosHkserY11xlvhpudfkxKw3_OgqePemAlM4X2pEDtJTG3N_YnUdAvk3WE2C90r45NoQP4cMJp-8W2b_BEZPD3F6gAxdhzLmanyd91L5yx3JNAUAjSU_yENVM2DFOWexT937bVsjMEgxwH/s400/BanPlasticBags110213.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="author times"> </div><div class="author times">By Bill Hickman</div> <div class="source times"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/01/proof-positive-time-to-ban-plastic-bags/" style="color: #4f4f50;">EcoWatch</a> / News Analysis</div> <div class="published"> Published: Saturday 2 November 2013</div><div class="published"><a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/">www.nationofchange.org</a> </div><div class="published"> </div> <div class="deck"> In theory, it’s a good idea to segregate plastic bags so they can be recycled separately but in reality that does not work if plastic bag recycle rates continue to hover in the single digits. </div><div class="deck"> </div><div class="deck">A recent exclusive report from the Associated Press (AP) highlighted the deficiencies with the California state law passed in 2006 that requires larger food retailers to recycle plastic bags. It’s been clear to us that <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/05/22/could-federal-bill-lead-death-plastic-bags/">plastic bag recycling</a> does not work and this is more proof. While the plastics industry and manufacturers often push for curbside recycling because of the convenience, the message to take certain items back does not work without a financial incentive.</div> Here’s an except from the <a href="http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/5501d61fdc79422bba3c0f9936bc7f0c/CA--Plastic-Bags-Forgotten-Law/#.UnFfJySvyKM">AP report</a> the the Daily Journal:  Stores are required to submit annual reports detailing how many bags were bought by the store, how many were returned by consumers and which recyclers processed them, yet the state recycling department cannot say how many stores are complying. A review by the Associated Press found data has not been analyzed since 2009, two years after the law took effect. Then, three percent of California’s plastic bags were being recycled, a one percentage point increase from the previous year.   While totals of bags purchased and recycled during the last three years were made available after an AP request, Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery spokesman Mark Oldfield said those numbers have not been verified so the official recycling rate can be updated. He said the program lacks resources to analyze recent reports. No fees are charged to bag manufacturers, recyclers or retailers to help pay for staff. While the law allows for fines if stores do not comply, no violations have been issued. The AP report focuses on <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/asm/ab_2401-2450/ab_2449_bill_20060930_chaptered.pdf">AB 2449</a> which was passed by California legislators in 2006, then the plastic bag recycling portion was extended until 2020 by legislators in 2012 through <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1219">SB 1219</a>. AB 2449 was a bit controversial at the time because many environmental groups were pushing for a stronger bill to address <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/08/06/the-danger-of-plastic-bags-to-marine-life/">plastic bag litter and associated impacts</a>. AB 2449 included a provision that prevented local communities from putting a fee on plastic checkout bags so the local response has been <a href="http://www.surfrider.org/pages/plastic-bag-bans-fees">65 plastic bag ban ordinances</a> and counting. Most recyclers don’t want to deal with plastic bags and film because they can ‘gum up’ the machinery that processes more profitable items such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans. In Washington, Thurston County <a href="http://www.theolympian.com/2013/08/09/2664230/lemay-to-stop-recycling-plastic.html">recycling provider Lemay, Inc. stopped collecting plastic bags</a> and film in October because of a lack of market for the material. <a href="http://www.wdde.org/48636-dnrec-plastic-bag-recycling">Delaware recently changed their policy</a> and is directing residents not to put plastic bags in their curbside or other single-stream recycling bins. In theory, it’s a good idea to segregate plastic bags so they can be recycled separately but in reality that does not work if plastic bag recycle rates continue to hover in the single digits. <a href="http://www.surfrider.org/">Surfrider</a> will continue to advocate plastic source reductions such as <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/07/31/texas-town-bans-plastic-bags/">plastic bag bans</a> and fee-based policies to help reduce plastic litter affecting the marine environment.

CONSUMER NEWS ENVIRONMENT NATIONAL NEWS SIGN OF THE TIMES Proof positive it's time to ban plastic bags

By Bill Hickman EcoWatch / News Analysis Published: Saturday 2 November 2013www.nationofchange.org In theory, it’s a good idea to segregate plastic bags so they can be recycled separately but in reality that does n…

Ready to work until you're 80?

11:50 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6383741895455123821" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ2kGEqPmnA9fFjpYNwQWJsPLriOi5qXf05RiuH-ggRxzeqD15WcxZZF9BEPZT1eOeOq6lgZOwH4iUGoKC71rS_yLKNvhVxfwYQi86s9LcQr-hogYZ67TAtIP-QMKGLnIuigKxBMld_Sa/s1600/too-much-email-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ2kGEqPmnA9fFjpYNwQWJsPLriOi5qXf05RiuH-ggRxzeqD15WcxZZF9BEPZT1eOeOq6lgZOwH4iUGoKC71rS_yLKNvhVxfwYQi86s9LcQr-hogYZ67TAtIP-QMKGLnIuigKxBMld_Sa/s400/too-much-email-logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 0px;">In our ever more unequal times, stats that once would have shocked us today often rate no more than a dismissive ho-hum. But pollsters with Wells Fargo last week <a href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FGh61%2B4gYIqRMdxVz%2BnBjqCGfvTxRepB" style="color: #127964; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">shared</a> a stat that might bring even the most jaded among us up short.</div> <div style="color: black; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 0px;">These pollsters asked a sampling of middle-income Americans how long they expect to have to work before they could afford to retire. Over a third — 34 percent — replied they expect to have to work until they hit age 80!</div> <div style="color: black; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-top: 0px;">Last month, interestingly, another poll — from the Washington Post and the Miller Center — <a href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xVmxj7tG4KuKXIxAKI1pUaCGfvTxRepB" style="color: #127964; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">asked Americans</a> why the United States now has so few decent jobs. Over three-quarters of those surveyed, a substantial 76 percent, placed blame on the “gap in pay between business executives and ordinary workers.”</div>

NATIONAL NEWS SENIORS SIGN OF THE TIMES Ready to work until you're 80?

In our ever more unequal times, stats that once would have shocked us today often rate no more than a dismissive ho-hum. But pollsters with Wells Fargo last week shared a stat that might bring even the most jaded among us up short. …

Republican extortionist Renzi gets 36 months

4:54 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYuy-mLWvopE96Tdfy7kP9Sn8WCsoeXBzMi8SmE2YM0hoRlthTYrQTtnvln5lJwYYTK0zoMqGc1Qdwc5N7vaHGm1Zh_ImS1svC3T_-SRbzgaAEsbVyUr1AncvmzA22B3JCPk_lV-8W4ka/s1600/DSCN0374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYuy-mLWvopE96Tdfy7kP9Sn8WCsoeXBzMi8SmE2YM0hoRlthTYrQTtnvln5lJwYYTK0zoMqGc1Qdwc5N7vaHGm1Zh_ImS1svC3T_-SRbzgaAEsbVyUr1AncvmzA22B3JCPk_lV-8W4ka/s400/DSCN0374.jpg" width="365" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">WASHINGTON – Former U.S. Congressman Rick Renzi (who represented District 1, including Payson) was sentenced today to serve 36 months in prison following his June conviction by a federal jury in Tucson, Ariz., for extortion, bribery, insurance fraud, money laundering and racketeering. Renzi’s co-defendant, James Sandlin, was also sentenced today to serve 18 months in prison for his role in the extortion, bribery and money laundering scheme. Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange of the District of Arizona, Special Agent in Charge Douglas G. Price of the FBI’s Phoenix Division, and Special Agent in Charge Dawn Mertz of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement following sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge David C. Bury. Renzi, 55, of Burke, Va., and Sandlin, 62, of Sherman, Texas, were convicted on June 11, 2013. Renzi was found guilty of 17 felony offenses including conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, extortion under color of official right, racketeering, money laundering and making false statements to insurance regulators. Sandlin was convicted of 13 felony offenses including conspiracy, honest services wire fraud, extortion under color of official right and money laundering.  “Mr. Renzi abused the power – and the corresponding trust – that comes with being a member of Congress by putting his own financial interests over the interests of the citizens he had sworn to serve,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman.  “He fleeced his own insurance company to fund his run for Congress, and then exploited his position for personal gain.  Mr. Renzi’s conviction and today’s sentence demonstrate the Justice Department’s commitment to fighting corruption at the highest levels of government.” “Former Congressman Renzi disregarded his oath to uphold the law, ignoring the interests of the people he was elected to serve in favor of his own interests,” stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Strange.  “The sentences imposed today reinforce the fundamental principle that no one, including an elected official, is above the law.” “When our elected officials betray the trust of the American people it strikes at the very core of our democracy,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Price.  “The sentencing of former Congressman Rick Renzi illustrates the commitment by the FBI and our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute corruption at all levels.   Today’s sentencing is a reminder that when a public official violates the public's trust they will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” “The public expects its elected officials to be honest, to be trustworthy and to show respect for the law," stated IRS Special Agent in Charge Mertz.  “Those in public office should be held to a higher standard and are not exempt from criminal prosecution.  The prison sentence imposed today should serve as a wake-up call to other public officials who believe there are no consequences for betraying the public trust.” </div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal">         According to evidence at trial, Renzi, then a member of Congress from Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, promised in 2005 to use his legislative influence to profit from a federal land exchange that involved property owned by Sandlin, a real-estate investor.         At the time, Sandlin owed Renzi $700,000 in future payments from their business dealings, and Renzi threatened proponents of the land exchange that he would not support it unless they purchased Sandlin’s property in Cochise County, Ariz.  When they refused, Renzi promised a second proponent of a land exchange that he would support the exchange if they purchased Sandlin’s property.  According to an agreement reached in May 2005, Sandlin was paid $1 million in earnest money, out of which he paid $200,000 to Renzi.  Just before Sandlin received the $1.6 million balance owed on the exchange, he paid an additional $533,000 to Renzi.         Evidence at trial further showed that from 2001 to 2003, Renzi engaged in insurance fraud by diverting his clients’ insurance premiums to fund his first campaign for Congress, and he subsequently sent false letters to his insurance customers and provided false statements to various state regulators who were investigating his activities.         This case was investigated by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.  The prosecution was handled by Trial Attorneys David Harbach and Sean Mulryne of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gary Restaino and James Knapp of the District of Arizona.</div></div>

LOCAL NEWS NATIONAL NEWS SIGN OF THE TIMES STATE NEWS Republican extortionist Renzi gets 36 months

WASHINGTON – Former U.S. Congressman Rick Renzi (who represented District 1, including Payson) was sentenced today to serve 36 months in prison following his June conviction by a federal jury in Tucson, Ariz., for extortion, bribery, insurance fra…

Yet another Fox News lie

11:44 AM Tukiyooo 0

If anything goes wrong,  blame it on 'Obamacare' By Dana Milbank Washington Post Writers Group Fox News' Sean Hannity, that paragon of journalistic integrity, hosted six "average Americans" on his show this month who were "feeling the pain" of "Obamacare." One was Paul Cox, who runs a North Carolina construction business and complained that the new law prevented him from hiring full-time employees because he would have to provide health insurance to anybody working more than 30 hours a week. "It happens all the time," Hannity contributed. If by "it" Hannity meant "misinforming the American public," then, yes, it is happening all the time. Salon's Eric Stern called Cox and found that Cox's business has only four employees.  It therefore is not affected by the new requirement, which applies to businesses with 50 or more workers.  The others on Hannity's program were similarly off-base. [To read the rest of Milbank's column, which appeared in the Oct. 24 edition of The Arizona Republic, click on <a href="http://azcentral.com/">azcentral.com</a>.  And for your subscription to the Republic, the best and most complete newspaper value in the Rim Country, call 1-800-332-6733.  Because in the real world news happens seven days a week.]

HEALTH NATIONAL NEWS SIGN OF THE TIMES TRUTH Yet another Fox News lie

If anything goes wrong, blame it on 'Obamacare'By Dana MilbankWashington Post Writers GroupFox News' Sean Hannity, that paragon of journalistic integrity, hosted six "average Americans" on his show this month who were "feeling the pain" of "Obamacare…

New movie explains where our Middle Class went

8:53 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTprXScvuzi1SBLEzUr2Wk0xx1ASjJxPq54XbV1QRewzes_w8oLib2PyXU3r8DzT8vVI0lb5W64fkpvjIkgDOxTElSDiz3pZ1DW8Bmje9wc-rCsJNSuNRAptwYnSBWFI-0ILngi5kUpyEy/s1600/robert_reich_opinion.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTprXScvuzi1SBLEzUr2Wk0xx1ASjJxPq54XbV1QRewzes_w8oLib2PyXU3r8DzT8vVI0lb5W64fkpvjIkgDOxTElSDiz3pZ1DW8Bmje9wc-rCsJNSuNRAptwYnSBWFI-0ILngi5kUpyEy/s1600/robert_reich_opinion.png" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">By <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/search_results/?sf_pubsys_story_byline=the%20Editorial%20Board&link_location=top" style="outline: 0px none;" target="_blank" title="Read more articles by the Editorial Board">the Editorial Board</a></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">Published: Monday, Oct. 21, 2013</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"> </div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">Our <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Declaration+of+Independence/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Declaration of Independence</a> states that “all men are created equal.” Over the years, Americans have removed many barriers to that great aspiration – with the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Fourteenth+Amendment/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Fourteenth Amendment,</a> the vote for women, the civil rights acts, public education and more.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">But since the late 1970s, the United States slowly has become the most unequal of the world’s developed nations in its distribution of income and wealth. Our middle class is shrinking.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">A new film, “Inequality for All,” hopes to bring attention to this. The protagonist is the passionate <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Robert+Reich/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Robert Reich,</a> an economics professor at the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/University+of+California/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">University of California,</a> Berkeley, and a former labor secretary during the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Clinton+administration/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Clinton administration.</a></div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">The timing certainly is right for a clear explanation of what has happened economically to the middle class in the last 30 years, and the impact it is having on our democracy. All to the good if it can begin a spirited conversation to consider remedies.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">The most stark visual in the film is a <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/suspension+bridge/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">suspension bridge,</a> not unlike the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Golden+Gate+Bridge/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Golden Gate Bridge.</a> One tower is 1928; the other is 2007. These are the peak years of <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/income+inequality/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">income inequality</a> in the United States. In both cases, we had economic crashes the year after the peak – and recovery took concerted action. Change did not come alone through <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/market+forces/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">market forces.</a></div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">The most stark fact in the film is that the typical male worker in 2010 earned $33,751; in 1978, he earned $48,302, in inflation-adjusted dollars.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">This stagnation of middle class incomes, Reich points out, has been masked by families becoming two-earner households, working longer hours (300 hours a year more than Europeans), using<a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/credit+cards/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">credit cards</a> and tapping their homes as <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/ATM+machines/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">ATM machines.</a> But with the bursting of the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/housing+bubble/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">housing bubble,</a> the mask has been lifted: “All of the coping mechanisms of flat wages for 30 years are now exhausted.”</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">And a <a href="http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/publiccosts/fastfoodpovertywages.shtml" style="outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">new report</a> released last Tuesday by the UC Berkeley Labor Center points out more than half of fast-food workers – at places such as McDonald’s, Subway, <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Burger+King/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Burger King</a> and Wendy’s – working 40 or more hours per week are enrolled in public assistance programs to cover basic needs of food, rent and <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/health+care/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">health care.</a> That costs all of us.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">Those at the top, however, have fared better. And if you think that’s all to the good, think again.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">Nick Hanauer, a Seattle pillow manufacturer and venture capitalist, points out in the film that the rich can buy only so many pillows and jeans. They invest some in companies creating jobs, but a lot goes to “funds of funds” – financiers financing other financiers instead of real industries.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">That helps to explain why inequality is widening even as the economy is growing.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">So what is the solution? Reich believes we should emulate the United States of the three decades after <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/World+War+II/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">World War II.</a></div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">That was a time when education was a national priority, including higher education. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Harry+S.+Truman/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">Harry S. Truman</a> championed large-scale investments to assure greater access. And states contributed, too.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">It was a time of investment in infrastructure, such as the interstate <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/highway+system/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">highway system.</a></div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">And, Reich points out, it was a time when more than one-third of workers belonged to labor unions that ensured that workers got a piece of <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/productivity+gains/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">productivity gains.</a> As companies are designed to make profits, we need some countervailing force to look after the American worker.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">All this led to a cycle of economic growth, greater <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/tax+revenues/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">tax revenues,</a> more <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/government+spending/" style="cursor: pointer; outline: 0px none;" target="_blank">government spending,</a> a better educated populace – a cycle that fed on itself.</div> <div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">Can this generation summon the political will to advance the aspiration of the Declaration of Independence? We should not stand by as our “land of opportunity” fails to meet that promise.</div> <div class="storybug" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; line-height: 18pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">• <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/search_results/?sf_pubsys_story_byline=the%20Editorial%20Board&link_location=bottom" style="outline: 0px none;" target="_blank" title="Read more articles by the Editorial Board">Read more articles by the Editorial Board</a></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/search_results/?sf_pubsys_story_byline=the%20Editorial%20Board&link_location=bottom" target="_blank" title="Read more articles by the Editorial Board"> Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/10/21/5833679/editorial-what-has-happened-to.html#storylink=cpy</a></div>

CULTURE-ARTS ENTERTAINMENT NATIONAL NEWS SIGN OF THE TIMES New movie explains where our Middle Class went

By the Editorial Board Published: Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 Our Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal.” Over the years, Americans have removed many barriers to that great aspiration – with the Fourteenth Amendment, the vote f…

Pros and cons of legal cannabis

9:07 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="A vendor displays products in Seattle. Washington State was one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana. (photo: Jason Redmond/Reuters)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/010719-washington-state-092913.jpg" style="border: 0px none;" title="A vendor displays products in Seattle. Washington State was one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana. (photo: Jason Redmond/Reuters)" width="400" /> A vendor displays products in Seattle. Washington State was one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana. (photo: Jason Redmond/Reuters)</div><div class="imgon2"> </div> <div class="txtauthor">By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News</div><div class="date">29 September 13</div><div class="date"><a href="http://readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org</a> </div> <div class="indent"><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-A.jpg" />t the CPC, or Center for Palliative Care, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, a friend and I walked into Ben Reagan's office in the back of the clinic. The walls were lined with extracts, concentrates, and edibles. Rotating shelves containing tubes of different strains of cannabis were neatly labeled with the name of the strain, the price per gram, and the percentage concentrations of Sativa and Indica. My friend asked Reagan what the difference was between White Widow and Widow's Peak.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"The White Widow species produces several different kinds of plants that produce different kinds of effects," Reagan said. "Widow's Peak is usually seen as the height of potential for White Widow. What kind of effect are you looking for?"</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"I want to have really great sex," said my friend, who was visiting the CPC as a carrier of a medical card that gave him permission by the state of Washington to use medical cannabis for the back pain he had contracted from his years as a firefighter. "And I don't want my partner to fall asleep."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"Then you want to blend the Harlequin and the White Widow," Reagan said. "It's kind of heady, but still a little more on the fun side than the sleepy side. The White Widow is 60% Sativa blend, making it more of a daytime thing. The Indica strain is more for joint pain and insomnia."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Washington approved the use of medical cannabis in 1998, and the CPC has been in business in Seattle for roughly four years. Just last year, voters in both Colorado and Washington State <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/07/news/economy/marijuana-legalization-washington-colorado/index.html" target="_hplink">approved ballot initiatives</a> that legalized the recreational sale of cannabis while instituting regulations similar to those governing the sale of alcohol.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">For example, nobody under the age of 21 can buy it, it's still illegal to consume it in public, and getting caught driving under the influence of cannabis will still result in a DUI charge. It's still not possible for anyone without a medical card to buy cannabis in Washington, but regulations are expected to go fully into effect by spring of 2014.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"As a business that's been around for a long time, Ben and I have been lucky to serve as consultants to state legislators, city officials, police departments, and district attorneys who now have to figure out how to regulate a product that can be used as medicine, fuel, polymer, plastic, and other products that are already regulated," said Jeremy Kaufman, executive director of the CPC. "The entire world is watching [Washington State] and how we're handling this, how we're putting it all together."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The CPC is still legally classified as a nonprofit medical R&D firm. Kaufman explained the concept of palliative care as the type of care you receive for various ailments and conditions, and said there hasn't been one case that's walked through his doors whom he hasn't been able to help with cannabis.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"A big part of what we do is education," Kaufman said. "We've been able to help treat cancer, chronic pain, loss of appetite, insomnia, nerve disorders, psychological disorders, and a lot of other conditions. As symbiotic, organic organisms, human beings and cannabis have a very unique relationship."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">However, Kaufman still hasn't reclassified his business under the new 502 law that was passed by Washington voters last fall, because the end result would be more costly to customers. Under the new system, there would be an additional 50 to 70 percent increase in sales taxes on top of the 9.8 percent sales tax the CPC <a href="http://dor.wa.gov/content/getaformorpublication/publicationbysubject/taxtopics/medicalcannabis.aspx" target="_hplink">already charges</a>. Kaufman said the additional taxes come from a 25% sales tax any time the product changes hands.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"You get taxed 25 percent when it goes from the grower to the extractor, to the processor, to the baker, to the retailer, before it even gets to the end user," Kaufman said. "The state is seeing the CPC as a model to build off of going forward, so a big part of our education is also showing that there are more efficient ways of regulating cannabis."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Under the new laws, the sale of recreational cannabis is being regulated by the same state agency that regulates the sale of liquor. But because cannabis used to be regarded as an illegal substance, there's no existing case law establishing legal precedent for how cannabis can be sold and regulated by a public entity. According to Kaufman, this means the laws literally are up to interpretation by anybody who participates in any part of the trade whenever a product changes hands, making the process a giant headache for both producers and consumers.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"At first, there was an immediate flooding of the market, and a huge free-for-all when 502 passed," Kaufman said. "People were opening all kinds of businesses, shipping in stuff from out of state, getting really cannibalistic."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Obviously, legalizing and taxing cannabis for recreational use would mean a huge increase in state tax revenues. A <a href="http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/DrugProhibitionWP.pdf" target="_hplink">2010 Cato Institute study</a> estimated $8.7 billion in new federal and state tax revenue if cannabis were to be legalized all over the United States. Washington State's I-502 alone is projected to generate <a href="http://vote.wa.gov/guides/2012/I-502-Fiscal-Impact.html" target="_hplink">$1.9 billion</a> in additional tax revenue in the next five years.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">But at the same time, as an illegal substance becomes legal, other budgets will be cut. Because of the lack of people being arrested, jailed, and prosecuted for smoking or possessing marijuana, Washington State just passed through <a href="http://www.doc.wa.gov/aboutdoc/budget/docs/Governors2011-2013ProposedBudgetRequest.pdf" target="_hplink">sweeping cuts</a> to the departments of public safety and corrections. While there's a clear benefit in fewer lives ruined from the war on drugs, the budget cuts are nonetheless <a href="http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/how-local-murders-child-rapists-would-be-unsupervi/nYTRH/" target="_hplink">laying off people</a> like parole officers who are monitoring murderers, rapists, and sex offenders who are out on bond.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Washington's shortcomings in the process of legalizing and taxing marijuana shouldn't discourage other states from trying, as Oregon, California, Hawaii, Alaska and Maine are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/marijuana-legalization-states_n_3838866.html" target="_hplink">likely to do soon</a>, but should serve as an example of what went right and what can be improved the next time. </div><hr size="3" style="width: 25%;" /><div class="indent">Carl Gibson, 26, is co-founder of US Uncut, a nationwide creative direct-action movement that mobilized tens of thousands of activists against corporate tax avoidance and budget cuts in the months leading up to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Carl and other US Uncut activists are featured in the documentary "We're Not Broke," which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin. You can contact him at <a href="mailto:carl@rsnorg.org">carl@rsnorg.org</a>, and follow him on twitter at @uncutCG.</div>

CONSUMER NEWS HEALTH NATIONAL NEWS SIGN OF THE TIMES Pros and cons of legal cannabis

A vendor displays products in Seattle. Washington State was one of the first to legalize recreational marijuana. (photo: Jason Redmond/Reuters) By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News29 September 13readersupportednews.org t the CPC, or Center for…