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...

How insurers are hiding Obamacare benefits

10:55 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="(illustration: AP)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/011029-health-care-scare-110513.jpg" title="(illustration: AP)" width="400" /> (illustration: AP)</div><div class="noslink"></div><div class="txtimg"><h1 class="txttitle"></h1><div class="txtauthor">By Dylan Scott, Talking Points Memo</div><div class="date">05 November 13</div><div class="date">readersupportednews.org </div> <img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-D.jpg" />onna received the letter canceling her insurance plan on Sept. 16. Her insurance company, LifeWise of Washington, told her that they'd identified a new plan for her. If she did nothing, she'd be covered. <div class="indent">A 56-year-old Seattle resident with a 57-year-old husband and 15-year-old daughter, Donna had been looking forward to the savings that the Affordable Care Act had to offer.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">But that's not what she found. Instead, she'd be paying an additional $300 a month for coverage. The letter made no mention of the health insurance marketplace that would soon open in Washington, where she could shop for competitive plans, and only an oblique reference to financial help that she might qualify for, if she made the effort to call and find out.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Otherwise, she'd be automatically rolled over to a new plan -- and, as the letter said, "If you're happy with this plan, do nothing."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">If Donna had done nothing, she would have ended up spending about $1,000 more a month for insurance than she will now that she went to the marketplace, picked the best plan for her family and accessed tax credits at the heart of the health care reform law.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"The info that we were sent by LifeWise was totally bogus. Why the heck did they try to screw us?" Donna said. "People who are afraid of the ACA should be much more afraid of the insurance companies who will exploit their fear and end up overcharging them."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Donna is not alone.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Across the country, insurance companies <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303983904579093620345333370" target="_blank">have sent</a> misleading letters to consumers, trying to lock them into the companies' own, sometimes more expensive health insurance plans rather than let them shop for insurance and tax credits on the Obamacare marketplaces -- which could lead to people like Donna spending thousands more for insurance than the law intended. In some cases, mentions of the marketplace in those letters are relegated to a mere footnote, which can be easily overlooked.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The extreme lengths to which some insurance companies are going to hold on to existing customers at higher price, as the Affordable Care Act fundamentally re-orders the individual insurance market, has caught the attention of state insurance regulators.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The insurance companies argue that it's simply capitalism at work. But regulators don't see it that way. By warning customers that their health insurance plans <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/what-happens-to-people-whose-insurance-is-cancelled-because-of-obamacare" target="_blank">are being canceled</a> as a result of Obamacare and urging them to secure new insurance plans before the Obamacare launched on Oct. 1, these insurers put their customers at risk of enrolling in plans that were not as good or as affordable as what they could buy on the marketplaces.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">TPM has confirmed two specific examples where companies contacted their customers prior to the marketplace's Oct. 1 opening and pushed them to renew their health coverage at a higher price than they would pay through the marketplace. State regulators identified the schemes, but they weren't necessarily able to stop them.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">It's not yet clear how widespread this practice became in the months leading up to the marketplace's opening -- or how many Americans will end up paying more than they should be for health coverage. But misleading letters have been sent out in at least four states across the country, and one offending carrier, Humana, is a company with a national reach.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"If you're an insurance company, you're trying to hang onto the consumers you have at the highest price you can get them," Laura Etherton, a health policy analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, told TPM. "You can take advantage of the confusion about what people get to have now. It's a new world. It's disappointing that insurance companies are sending confusing letters to consumers to take advantage of that confusion. The reality is that this could do real harm."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Before Obamacare, Donna paid a $724 monthly premium for $10,000 deductible, catastrophic health coverage from LifeWise, a subsidiary of the state's Blue Cross/Blue Shield affiliate. She asked that TPM withhold her last name because she was disclosing personal financial information.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The Sept. 16 letter from LifeWise told her that her existing plan was being canceled to comply with the new requirements of Obamacare and that she would automatically be rolled over into a new plan that was the "closest match" to her old plan. "If we don't hear from you, we'll automatically move you to this plan and you'll be covered starting January 1, 2014," the notice read.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Under the new LifeWise plan, Donna would have to pay more than $1,000 a month, a nearly $300 per month increase and a huge hit for a family with an income around $40,000. It was bare-bones coverage by ACA standards, with a $6,350 deductible.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The letter, which you can read here, made no mention of the insurance marketplace that was about to open, where she could shop around for other options. It did mention that she might qualify for financial help in the form of a tax credit but the onus was on Donna to call the insurer for more information.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Fast forward a month, and Donna was able to log onto Washington's marketplace and shop for insurance. And what did she find? Options. A LifeWise plan with the same deductible they offered her outside the exchange was a little cheaper. Plans with a lower deductible had the same or lower premiums as the LifeWise plan. What she ended up buying was a plan through Community Health Plan of Washington with a $250 deductible.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">And crucially, she also discovered she would qualify for a federal tax subsidy that would knock her monthly premium to $80. Her daughter could enroll in Medicaid, at no cost to the family.</div><div class="indent">  </div><div class="indent">So here's the bottom line: If Donna had taken the default option that LifeWise offered outside of the marketplace, she would have paid nearly $1,000 more per month for a worse plan than she was able to obtain on the marketplace.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">A LifeWise spokesman told TPM that the Washington marketplace had done plenty of its own advertising and the company assumes that customers know they have other options. He also noted that more information was available on the company's website.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"Our experience is that our customers are already aware that they have other options in the market and that we've never had to tell them in the past that we have competitors," Eric Earling, director of corporate communications at Premera Blue Cross/Blue Shield, said. "We knew that (the marketplace) would have a robust marketing campaign for themselves and knew they didn't need any additional help from us."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">As a result of the letter LifeWise sent to Donna and other customers, state regulators in Washington issued a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/180817948/Washington-Consumer-Alert-pdf" target="_blank">consumer alert</a> on Sept. 19, warning residents about the misleading information. "Don't just take what your insurance company says, make sure you shop around. You have the right to buy any plan inside the new exchange or in the outside market," Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said in the alert.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">But the agency doesn't have the statutory authority to stop LifeWise from sending the misleading letters, a spokeswoman told TPM. The company controls one-third of the state's 300,000-person individual health insurance market -- leaving a lot of people at risk of being duped.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"Yes, that's possible," Stephanie Marquis, the spokeswoman, said when asked if some Washingtonians could be paying much more for insurance than they could if they went on the exchange because of LifeWise's actions.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"One of our concerns has been that people don't know they have these new rights," Marquis said. "The insurance companies can manipulate or withhold that information to increase their market share. It's just really disingenuous."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Donna's experience isn't an isolated incident, however. And the wider spread the issue is, the likelier it becomes that some people have been manipulated into spending more for insurance than they should.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Kentucky <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013309240089" target="_blank">fined</a> Louisville-based Humana for sending out letters with similarly misleading information to customers in that state. They received complaints about an Aug. 21 letter that pressed customers to renew their policy now or risk increased rates under Obamacare.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">But like LifeWise, Humana downplayed the fact that people could search the marketplace for other insurance options or that they might qualify for Obamacare's financial assistance, state insurance commissioner Sharon Clark, pictured, told TPM in an interview. A footnote referenced the "open enrollment period" that started Oct. 1. Humana directed customers to their website for more information about the marketplace, but offered no further explanation.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">After receiving the letter, which you can read here, some customers were badgered through phone calls to make a decision, Clark said. Of the 6,500 people who received a letter, 2,200 actually responded and gave the company their answer before they had a chance to look at what the Kentucky marketplace had to offer.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">But Clark's office soon stepped in. They fined Humana $65,000 for the "misleading" information, and the 2,200 respondents were released from their obligation to Humana and freed to shop for insurance through the Obamacare marketplace starting Oct. 1.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The most troubling part of the Humana case is that the company was pushing customers into a Humana insurance plan that was more expensive than the plan Humana was selling on the Obamacare marketplace, without the financial help available under Obamcare.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Clark gave the example of a single mother with children who was urged to sign up for a Humana plan with a monthly premium of $719.86. That price is higher than any comparable plan for sale on the state's insurance marketplace, Clark said -- not to mention that the mother might have qualified for tax subsidies to help pay for it if she went through the marketplace, as Donna did.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"People don't think about insurance every day," Clark said, "and in an environment with so many changes, this has been a period of confusion and uncertainty for people."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Colorado regulators also received complaints about a similar Humana letter, dated Aug. 28 on a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/180818879/Colorado-Humana-Letter-pdf" target="_blank">copy</a> obtained by TPM, that went out to 3,400 customers in their state.</div><div class="indent">It explained options available on the Obamacare marketplace and financial help in, again, a footnote. The company wasn't fined as it was in Kentucky, but state officials forced Humana to send out an apology and a corrected letter that met the state's standards.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"The letter appeared threatening," Vincent Plymell, a spokesman for the state insurance department, told TPM. "You've got to let people know their options. You can't make it seem like they have to stick with your company."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">State officials in Missouri also told TPM that they have received complaints about misleading letters from Humana and were in the process of investigating them.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Asked by TPM about the Kentucky letter that resulted in a fine, Humana senior vice president for corporate communications Tom Noland offered the following statement via email, but declined to comment further.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"In retrospect, the letter could have been more consumer-friendly and we've rewritten it with that in mind. We are continuing to work closely with the Department of Insurance to ensure our messaging is clear and not adding confusion to consumers during this period of adjustment and transition."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Clark, the Kentucky insurance commissioner, told TPM that Humana executives had told state officials that there had been "a major disconnect" between the marketing and government compliance arms of the company.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"That was the excuse they gave us," she said. "That was the rationale."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">"This is a great example of the kind of consumer abuses that are typical of the insurance industry, and they're supposed to stop under the ACA," Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care For America Now, a pro-Obamacare advocacy group, told TPM. "In this case, they're trying to get in just one more abuse."</div></div>

CONSUMER NEWS NATIONAL NEWS NATURAL HEALTH by Leilah SENIORS How insurers are hiding Obamacare benefits

(illustration: AP) By Dylan Scott, Talking Points Memo 05 November 13 readersupportednews.org onna received the letter canceling her insur...

Why the world no longer wants to be like US

9:03 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/011037-noam-chompsky-110613.jpg" title="America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)" width="400" /> America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown)</div><div class="noslink"></div><div class="txtimg"><h1 class="txttitle"></h1><div class="txtauthor">By Noam Chomsky, AlterNet</div><div class="date">06 November 13</div><div class="date"><a href="http://www.readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org </a></div> <blockquote>Many countries in the world see the U.S. as the single greatest external threat to their societies.</blockquote> <img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-D.jpg" />uring the latest episode of the Washington farce that has astonished a bemused world, a Chinese commentator wrote that if the United States cannot be a responsible member of the world system, perhaps the world should become "de-Americanized" - and separate itself from the rogue state that is the reigning military power but is losing credibility in other domains. <div class="indent">The Washington debacle's immediate source was the sharp shift to the right among the political class. In the past, the U.S. has sometimes been described sardonically - but not inaccurately - as a one-party state: the business party, with two factions called Democrats and Republicans.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">That is no longer true. The U.S. is still a one-party state, the business party. But it only has one faction: moderate Republicans, now called New Democrats (as the U.S. Congressional coalition styles itself).</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">There is still a Republican organization, but it long ago abandoned any pretense of being a normal parliamentary party. Conservative commentator Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute describes today's Republicans as "a radical insurgency - ideologically extreme, scornful of facts and compromise, dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition": a serious danger to the society.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The party is in lock-step service to the very rich and the corporate sector. Since votes cannot be obtained on that platform, the party has been compelled to mobilize sectors of the society that are extremist by world standards. Crazy is the new norm among Tea Party members and a host of others beyond the mainstream.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The Republican establishment and its business sponsors had expected to use them as a battering ram in the neoliberal assault against the population - to privatize, to deregulate and to limit government, while retaining those parts that serve wealth and power, like the military.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The Republican establishment has had some success, but now finds that it can no longer control its base, much to its dismay. The impact on American society thus becomes even more severe. A case in point: the virulent reaction against the Affordable Care Act and the near-shutdown of the government.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The Chinese commentator's observation is not entirely novel. In 1999, political analyst Samuel P. Huntington warned that for much of the world, the U.S. is "becoming the rogue superpower," seen as "the single greatest external threat to their societies."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">A few months into the Bush term, Robert Jervis, president of the American Political Science Association, warned that "In the eyes of much of the world, in fact, the prime rogue state today is the United States." Both Huntington and Jervis warned that such a course is unwise. The consequences for the U.S. could be harmful.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs, the leading establishment journal, David Kaye reviews one aspect of Washington's departure from the world: rejection of multilateral treaties "as if it were sport."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">He explains that some treaties are rejected outright, as when the U.S. Senate "voted against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012 and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1999."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Others are dismissed by inaction, including "such subjects as labor, economic and cultural rights, endangered species, pollution, armed conflict, peacekeeping, nuclear weapons, the law of the sea, and discrimination against women."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Rejection of international obligations "has grown so entrenched," Kaye writes, "that foreign governments no longer expect Washington's ratification or its full participation in the institutions treaties create. The world is moving on; laws get made elsewhere, with limited (if any) American involvement."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">While not new, the practice has indeed become more entrenched in recent years, along with quiet acceptance at home of the doctrine that the U.S. has every right to act as a rogue state.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">To take a typical example, a few weeks ago U.S. special operations forces snatched a suspect, Abu Anas al-Libi, from the streets of the Libyan capital Tripoli, bringing him to a naval vessel for interrogation without counsel or rights. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed the press that the actions are legal because they comply with American law, eliciting no particular comment.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Principles are valid only if they are universal. Reactions would be a bit different, needless to say, if Cuban special forces kidnapped the prominent terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in Miami, bringing him to Cuba for interrogation and trial in accordance with Cuban law.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Such actions are restricted to rogue states. More accurately, to the one rogue state that is powerful enough to act with impunity: in recent years, to carry out aggression at will, to terrorize large regions of the world with drone attacks, and much else.</div><div class="indent">And to defy the world in other ways, for example by persisting in its embargo against Cuba despite the long-term opposition of the entire world, apart from Israel, which voted with its protector when the United Nations again condemned the embargo (188-2) in October.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Whatever the world may think, U.S. actions are legitimate because we say so. The principle was enunciated by the eminent statesman Dean Acheson in 1962, when he instructed the American Society of International Law that no legal issue arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its "power, position, and prestige."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Cuba committed that crime when it beat back a U.S. invasion and then had the audacity to survive an assault designed to bring "the terrors of the earth" to Cuba, in the words of Kennedy adviser and historian Arthur Schlesinger.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">When the U.S. gained independence, it sought to join the international community of the day. That is why the Declaration of Independence opens by expressing concern for the "decent respect to the opinions of mankind."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">A crucial element was evolution from a disorderly confederacy to a unified "treaty-worthy nation," in diplomatic historian Eliga H. Gould's phrase, that observed the conventions of the European order. By achieving this status, the new nation also gained the right to act as it wished internally.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">It could thus proceed to rid itself of the indigenous population and to expand slavery, an institution so "odious" that it could not be tolerated in England, as the distinguished jurist William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, ruled in 1772. Evolving English law was a factor impelling the slave-owning society to escape its reach.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Becoming a treaty-worthy nation thus conferred multiple advantages: foreign recognition, and the freedom to act at home without interference. Hegemonic power offers the opportunity to become a rogue state, freely defying international law and norms, while facing increased resistance abroad and contributing to its own decline through self-inflicted wounds.</div></div>

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Why the world no longer wants to be like US

America's leading intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. (photo: unknown) By Noam Chomsky, AlterNet 06 November 13 readersupportednews.o...

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 Blog ...

Many Hispanic Catholics converting to Islam

11:15 AM Tukiyooo 0

<h2 class="entry-title"></h2><div class="entry-content"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-islam-man-full.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34498" height="225" src="http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-islam-man-full-300x225.jpg" title="1-islam-man-full" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-islam-woman-full.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34499" height="225" src="http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-islam-woman-full-300x225.jpg" title="1-islam-woman-full" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-islam-pages-full.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-34500" height="199" src="http://cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/1-islam-pages-full-300x199.jpg" title="1-islam-pages-full" width="300" /></a></div> TOP: Chris Cruz, born and raised Roman Catholic, said converting to Islam doesn’t make him any less Hispanic. He is a member of the Islamic Community Center in Tempe. (Cronkite News Service Photo by Elisa Cordova) MIDDLE: Sobida Espinoza, a member of the Islamic Community Center in Tempe, said converting to Islam caused her family to cut ties but gave her a new family through her religion. (Cronkite News Service Photo by Elisa Cordova) BOTTOM: The imam at the Islamic Community Center in Tempe said most new converts there are Hispanic. (Cronkite News Service Photo by Elisa Cordova) By ELISA CORDOVA  Cronkite News Service TEMPE – Chris Cruz was born and raised Roman Catholic but converted to Islam in large part because of its call for a healthier lifestyle, including a prohibition on drinking. But converting doesn’t make him any less Hispanic, he said. “Islam does not make you lose your culture,” Cruz said. “There’s a lot more to life than what we used to do. I grew up partying.” Sobida Espinoza, who like Cruz is a member of the Islamic Community Center here and was raised Catholic, and said she converted to Islam to find truth. “If you’re Hispanic it’s almost as if you are forced to be Catholic,” she said. “People are converting to Islam because they find the reality that isn’t defined in other religions.” Cruz and Espinoza aren’t alone. Ahmad Shqeirat, the center’s imam, or prayer leader, said that over the past few years most of the converts at his mosque have come from the Latino community. “It seems they are digging for their heritage,” he said. Shqeirat said Latino converts find similarities between Islam and the culture in which they grew up. Spanish is filled with Arabic vocabulary, he noted. Cruz said both Islam and Catholicism promote having large families, but he said his new religion offers more guidance on the family structure. That led his mother-in-law, who is also Hispanic, to convert, he said. “She noticed a big change in how we conducted ourselves and how our relationship had really grown,” Cruz said. “We don’t drink and we don’t have the big parties.” Nahela Morales, national Hispanic outreach coordinator for WhyIslam, an online resource about Islam and Muslims, said Hispanics convert because they aren’t happy with their lifestyles. “They are looking to fulfill a void that nothing else can fulfill,” she said. Morales said she believes many Hispanics don’t feel accepted in the United States because of illegal immigration and other issues. By converting to Islam, she said, they become a minority within a minority. “It’s still something very appealing,” she said. “They find that family that they lack.” Imam Didmar Faja of the Albanian American Islamic Center of Arizona in Peoria is opening mosque in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, because of interest from people there. He attributed that, in part, to problems stemming from drug cartels and other social problems. “It’s getting kind of weak, the family structure,” he said. “They are looking for other options to keep these rooted traditions with them.” Espinoza, who is single, said she was abandoned by her family when she converted. But as her family grew distant, she said, Islam became her new family and changed her life for the better. “I sometimes feel sad, but that also makes me stronger in the religion,” she said. </div>

HERITAGE NATIONAL NEWS STATE NEWS Many Hispanic Catholics converting to Islam

TOP: Chris Cruz, born and raised Roman Catholic, said converting to Islam doesn’t make him any less Hispanic. He is a member of the Islamic...

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 Intern...

PetSmart makes Gazette's 'Good Business' list

7:51 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCC2oVVMH7m769tX1SFVVq_FD7GPxjvXdcA5-9MNuChvalsVr_68adNAviQUv8jRW-jmCd80GVQ_4qiCd7fzEYWkywdRaUM95Ou5WpNyaHsYRwm6ejcnzq__SGXpLU6RJRSfXwXBILzz-_/s1600/header-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCC2oVVMH7m769tX1SFVVq_FD7GPxjvXdcA5-9MNuChvalsVr_68adNAviQUv8jRW-jmCd80GVQ_4qiCd7fzEYWkywdRaUM95Ou5WpNyaHsYRwm6ejcnzq__SGXpLU6RJRSfXwXBILzz-_/s320/header-logo.png" width="320" /></a></div>Over the past few years, we've recommended avoiding a number of retail establishments because they mistreat employees (WalMart and McDonald's), are homophobic (Chick-Fil-A), support divisive idiots like Rush Limbaugh (Aamco), and a variety of other reasons. We've also encouraged patronizing a smaller list of businesses that do the right things by their people and the causes they believe in (Costco, Starbucks).  Well here's one to put on your list of places that deserve your support - and we have an outlet right here in the Rim Country. According to an article in today's (Nov. 4) Arizona Republic, Phoenix-based PetSmart has signed an Arizona Unity Pledge supporting gay rights.  What that means is that PetSmart is committed to creating an environment that is free of discrimination and bullying against workers or members who are gay. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is.  A lot of companies are afraid to sign the pledge for fear of alienating homophobic customers. As an additional bonus, the local Payson PetSmart works closely with the Humane Society of Central Arizona to help find homes for abandoned and abused animals. So here's to PetSmart.  Please patronize them. (To read the entire article, click on <a href="http://news.azcentral.com/">news.azcentral.com</a>.  And for home delivery of the best newspaper in the Rim Country, call 1-800-332-6733.)

CONSUMER NEWS GOOD NEWS HUMANE SOCIETY LOCAL NEWS NATIONAL NEWS STATE NEWS PetSmart makes Gazette's 'Good Business' list

Over the past few years, we've recommended avoiding a number of retail establishments because they mistreat employees (WalMart and McDon...

Texas AG almost nailed by own voter ID law

10:13 AM Tukiyooo 0

<h1 class="txttitle"></h1><div class="imgon2"><img alt="Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. (photo: AP)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/011114-greg-abbott-texas-110213.jpg" title="Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. (photo: AP)" width="400" /> Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. (photo: AP)</div> <div class="txtauthor">By Aviva Shen, ThinkProgress</div><div class="date">02 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-A.jpg" />s early voting begins in Texas, the state's new, strict voter ID law has thus far flagged a <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/23/2821651/texas-judge-voter/" target="_blank">judge</a>, gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, and another <a href="http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14301/state-senator-leticia-van-de-putte-also-forced-to-sign-affidavit-to-vote-under-photo-voter-id-law" target="_blank">state senator</a> as potentially illegitimate voters. Attorney General Greg Abbott (R), voter ID's most strident defender, was also <a href="http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14299/greg-abbott-can-still-vote-thanks-to-wendy-davis" target="_blank">flagged as a suspicious voter</a> under his own law's strict criteria. <div class="indent">Abbott was flagged because his license lists his name as "Gregory Wayne Abbott" while his voter registration record simply calls him "Greg Abbott."</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Longtime voters, particularly <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/17/2789931/threat-women-texas/" target="_blank">married women</a> who have taken a spouse's name, are being stopped at the polls because their names on their drivers' licenses differ from their voter registration forms. Thanks to an amendment added by Wendy Davis, voters who clearly have "substantially similar" names can still cast a regular ballot by signing an affidavit affirming their identity. If the law had gone through unmodified as Abbott originally supported, he would have disenfranchised himself.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">Though Davis' amendment will allow many legitimate voters to vote, the process to determine "substantial similarity" and organize affidavit-signing will inevitably clog up Texas electoral processes with unnecessary confusion. Come November 5, Texas' polling places may resemble Florida's in 2012, where Republicans' election law changes created <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/23/1486311/long-voting-lines-drove-away-at-least-201k-florida-voters-study-finds/" target="_blank">marathon lines and pollworker confusion</a>.</div><div class="indent"> </div><div class="indent">The law has also affected countless ordinary Texans who do not attract as much media coverage as Davis or Abbott. People of color, low-income voters, seniors, and students are most likely to lack the required ID and may not have their votes counted as a result. While Texas officials claim it is easy for these people to get a free voter ID, just <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/10/22/2812371/just-0003-percent-eligible-texas-voters-received-free-voter/" target="_blank">41 out of 1.4 million eligible Texas voters have received one</a> as of the middle of last month. ThinkProgress interviewed one 84-year-old woman who was <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/09/26/2683971/dorothy-card-voter-id/" target="_blank">denied the ID three times</a> despite providing extensive proof of her identity.</div>

NATIONAL NEWS WEIRD NEWS WOMEN Texas AG almost nailed by own voter ID law

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. (photo: AP) By Aviva Shen, ThinkProgress 02 November 13 readersupportednews.org s early voting begins ...

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 2013 www.nationofchange.org ...

Tell AAMCO to stop backing Limbaugh

2:51 PM Tukiyooo 0

EDUCATION NATIONAL NEWS PERSPECTIVE TRUTH Tell AAMCO to stop backing Limbaugh

AAMCO is advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Show. If you haven't already, please sign this. If you already have, please tweet, facebook...

Dear Republicans: Explain this, please

11:22 AM Tukiyooo 0

OK, my Republican friends, explain this one away if you can. In an article about House-Senate budget negotiations in today's (Oct. 31) Arizona Republic, Associated Press correspondent Andrew Taylor notes: "Democrats are eager to ease cuts to domestic programs like Head Start preschools, education grants to local schools, and infrastructure projects. "Republicans are especially worried about cuts to the Pentagon." Dear Republican friends: If you agree with the above, then you no longer need to ask me the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.  It's right there in black and white.   If you disagree, if this is not what you value, then what the hell are you doing voting Republican? Jim Keyworth Gazette Blog Editor To read the entire article, click on <a href="http://azcentral.com/">azcentral.com</a> To have the Republic delivered to your doorstep 7 days a week, call 1-800-332-6733.  Because the news doesn't just happen twice a week.

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Dear Republicans: Explain this, please

OK, my Republican friends, explain this one away if you can. In an article about House-Senate budget negotiations in today's (Oct. 31) A...

Tea Party has irreparably harmed our country

1:32 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div class="imgon2"><img alt="Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)" border="0" height="181" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/article_imgs10/010864-bernie-sanders-101713.jpg" title="Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)" width="400" /> Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters)</div> <div class="txtimg"> <div class="txtauthor"></div><div class="txtauthor">By Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont</div> <div class="date">17 October 13</div><div class="date"><a href="http://www.readersupportednews.org/">readersupportednews.org </a></div> <div class="editorcom"><img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/rsn_editorcomment_01.jpg" />Senator Sanders made these remarks prior to the deal that reopened the government. Since we may go down this same path in January, his words are anything but dated. SMG/RSN"</div> <img border="0" src="http://readersupportednews.org/images/stories/alphabet/rsn-A.jpg" />s Vermont's senator, I intend to do everything I can to reopen the government as soon as possible and keep our country from defaulting, which could drive the global economy into economic turmoil,' Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. 'My fear, however, is that no matter what happens in Congress in the next day or two, serious and long-lasting damage already has been done to our country by the right-wing extremists of the Tea Party.' <div class="indent">Sanders statement came as the government shutdown entered its third week on Tuesday and as a Thursday default deadline loomed unless Congress extends the Treasury Department's authority to pay bills.</div><div class="indent"> </div> <div class="indent">'What we have already witnessed is the hijacking of the democratic process by a few dozen extremists in the House who are actively trying to annul the results of the last election. This sets a terrible precedent for the legislative process and will likely be repeated year after year,' he said.</div><div class="indent"> </div> <div class="indent">'What we have already witnessed is the anxiety befalling over 1 million federal employees who are not receiving the paychecks they deserve. Having gone three years without a pay raise, they are now wondering how they will pay their mortgages, their student loans and take care of other basic needs. How many experienced and high-quality federal employees will we be losing as a result of this shutdown? What is the long-term damage to the functioning of the federal government?</div><div class="indent"> </div> <div class="indent">'What we have already witnessed is the fear of many of our most vulnerable citizens ' the elderly, the sick, veterans, the disabled, Head Start families ' that the payments and programs they depend upon may not be there when they need them. Their confidence in their own government to keep the promises and commitments made to them will be forever diminished.</div><div class="indent"> </div> <div class="indent">'What we have already witnessed is a blow to our position in the international community. In our foreign relations, we should not be surprised that the United States government is now the laughing stock of the world. Can we really be the 'strongest country on earth' when we shut down the government and do not pay our bills? The Chinese, our biggest creditor, are now openly talking about the need to 'de-Americanize' international affairs because of the constant brinksmanship by U.S. politicians over the possibility of a debt default.</div><div class="indent"> </div> <div class="indent">'The American people are better than this. They deserve a better government,' he said.</div></div>

NATIONAL NEWS OPINION PERSPECTIVE Tea Party has irreparably harmed our country

Sen. Bernie Sanders. (photo: Reuters) By Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator for Vermont 17 October 13 readersupportednews.org Senator Sanders ma...

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 wi...