http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...sentenced.html

Elections Over, New Day, and the games go on and on
 

POLITICO Breaking News
-------------------------------------------------
Speaker John Boehner on Friday pressured President Barack Obama to take the lead on a deal to avert tax increases, saying “this is an opportunity for the president to lead. This is his moment to work on a solution that can pass both chambers.”

But Boehner remained unyielding on raising taxes on upper income Americans – a top priority for Obama – saying that “raising tax rates will slow down our ability to create the jobs that everyone says they want.” Boehner instead called for lowering tax rates while eliminating certain deductions and loopholes as part of a larger tax reform bill.

http://www.politico.com/

I have a friend I worked with years ago that has gone all right winged radical. He made the following statement, that God let Obama win because we have turned our backs on God therefore we are reaping what we sow. I swear if I had the time to travel to where my friend is I'd go just to thump his ass. Ughhh!

Good News
 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-...nment-surgery/
S.F. health care to cover sex reassignment surgery

SAN FRANCISCO A panel has voted to cover the cost and provide sexual reassignment surgery for transgendered people as part of San Francisco's universal health care plan.


The city's Health Commission approved on Tuesday the creation a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. San Francisco already provides transgender residents with hormones, counseling and routine health services, but has stopped short of offering surgical interventions, Public Health Director Barbara Garcia said Thursday after the vote was announced.


The idea for a new program that included surgeries came out of conversations between public health officials and transgender rights advocates who wanted mastectomies, genital reconstructions and other surgeries that are recommended for some transgender people covered under San Francisco's 5-year-old universal health care plan.
San Francisco plans to provide transgender surgeries

At the urging of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center, the commission agreed this week to drop sex reassignment surgery from the list of procedures specifically excluded from the Healthy San Francisco plan.


But Garcia described the move as "a symbolic process" for now because the city currently does not have the expertise, capacity or protocols in place to provide the surgeries through its clinics and public hospital.


"The community felt the exclusion on Healthy San Francisco was discriminatory and we wanted to change that as the first step," she said.


Currently, Healthy San Francisco provides medical care for uninsured residents below a certain income level, regardless of citizenship, immigration, employment or health status. Participants must have an income at or below 500 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which means $54,480 for one person and $111,720 for a family of four. The program is paid for by federal funds, city business fees and participant co-payments.


Instead of expanding the existing plan, the Health Commission approved the establishment of a separate program that covers all aspects of transgender health, including gender transition. Garcia hopes to have it running by late next year, but said her department first needs to study how many people it would serve, how much it would cost, who would perform the surgeries and where they would be performed.


"Sex reassignment surgery is not the end all. It's one service that some transgender people want and some don't," she said. "We can probably manage this over the next three years without much of a budget increase because we already have these (other) services covered."


San Francisco in 2001 became the first city in the country to cover sex reassignment surgeries for government employees. Last year, Portland, Ore. did the same. The number of major U.S. companies covering the cost of gender reassignment surgery for transgender workers also doubled last year, reflecting a decades-long push by transgender activists to get insurance companies to treat such surgeries as medically necessary instead of elective procedures.


"There's been a consensus the last three to five years that transition related surgeries are in fact a medical necessity for people who have been properly diagnosed with gender dysphoria," Theresa Sparks, head of the Human Rights Commission, said to CBS station KPIX in San Francisco.


Kathryn Steuerman, a member of a transgender health advocacy group in San Francisco, said the city's latest move would help residents avoid going into debt to finance operations related to gender transition, as she did.


"I am filled with hope and gratitude that we are achieving this level of support for the well-being of the transgender community," Steuerman said.
© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sad Sad Day!
 

I bought a 2012 Kia Soul and am getting a nice debit card as a result of this program. Also, Kia/Hyundai is reimbursing mileage for as long as you own your car, every year. If you have a 2011-2013 Kia or Hyundai... Check it out!

http://www.webpronews.com/hyundai-ki...llions-2012-11

Republican House Leadership
 

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) was elected House Republican Conference chair, assuring that there will be a female in House GOP leadership. McMorris Rodgers topped Georgia Rep. Tom Price, who was backed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), for the position as the party’s chief messenger.


http://www.politico.com

Accuser Recants Allegation Against Elmo Puppeteer
http://akirathedon.com/wp-content/up...s-innocent.jpg

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...lmo-puppeteer/

Analysis: Obama aims high but doesn't gloat
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama walked a narrow path between ambition and realism, defiance and accommodation when he addressed reporters for the first time since winning a hard-fought election that gives him four more years to carve his place in history.

While he avoided terms like ‘‘transformational,’’ Obama signaled that he still hopes to accomplish big things in spite of Congress’ almost paralyzing partisanship. That could include an overhaul of immigration laws, which could become a coveted bookend to his 2010 health care revision.

There was a bounce in Obama’s step Wednesday in the White House East Room. But there was no dancing in the end zone, no taunting of defeated opponents. He jokingly claimed he forgot about the election the day after it ended, so eager is he to plunge into his second-term agenda.

Obama said he is willing to work with Republicans to head off the worrisome package of big tax hikes and program cuts scheduled to hit in less than seven weeks. But he reiterated that wealthy households must pay higher tax rates, something GOP lawmakers fiercely oppose.

But he stopped short of mimicking past presidents who have claimed wide-ranging mandates. He avoided the newly re-elected George W. Bush’s 2004 boastful vow to start spending ‘‘political capital.’’ Obama is well aware that Bush quickly suffered a stinging setback when Americans rejected his bid to partly privatize Social Security.

‘‘I've got one mandate,’’ Obama said. ‘‘I've got a mandate to help middle-class families and families that have been working hard to try to get into the middle class.’’

The president, a history student who reportedly ponders where he might rank among presidents, said: ‘‘I'm more than familiar with all the literature about presidential overreach in second terms. We are very cautious about that.’’

‘‘On the other hand,’’ he said, ‘‘I didn’t get re-elected just to bask in re-election.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/...K9K/story.html

---------------------------



This guy is becoming the epitome of diplomacy as the years go by. I like it.

Woman In Ireland Dies After Being Denied an Abortion During a Miscarriage
 

Women's rights and health activists are outraged after reports that a pregnant woman in Ireland died after she was denied an abortion that might have saved her life.

Savita Halappanavar was 17 weeks pregnant when she showed up at a hospital in Galway last month, complaining of back pain. Doctors quickly determined that she was having a miscarriage and chose to let it run its course.

After spending a full day in "severe pain" and understanding that the baby could not be saved, Halappanavar asked for the pregnancy to be terminated. The hospital refused, reportedly telling the couple that "this is a Catholic country" and there was nothing it could do as long a heartbeat could be detected.

It was another two and half days before the heartbeat stopped and the fetus was removed, but by then the damage had been done. Halappanavar had developed septicemia and E. coli infections. She spent another four days in intensive care and died a week after entering the hospital.

Abortion is completely illegal in Ireland, but can technically be allowed if "there is a real and substantial risk to the life (as distinct from the health) of the mother." In other words, it's not enough for the mother to be in pain or at risk of complications. They have to reasonably believe that she will die without it. Now an investigation is underway as to whether the hospital acted properly and Halappanavar's family is considering legal action.

There are also already calls being made for the Republic of Ireland to back off what is are some of the strictest anti-abortion rules in the world. Just days before Halappanavar's ordeal, the first legitimate women's health clinic to offer abortions opened across the border in Northern Ireland, which operates under different laws, but faces an equally strident pro-life opposition. (Abortion has been legal in the UK since the 1960s, but Northern Ireland has never enacted the law that allows it.) The tough rules lead as many 4,000 women to leave the country in search of abortions each year.

One writer called the treatment of Halappanavar "cruelty disguised as piety, cowardice misrepresented as principle," saying that even if she hadn't died, the pain alone should have justified the procedure. Arguments over just these kinds of abortion exemptions—and the often foolish comments made by some conservatives—were part of a major debate the helped swing several key election in the U.S. this year.

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-ireland-...142152823.html

Sexism & Ageism: Pelosi Calls It Out
 

"She also, aptly again, pointed out that you had failed to ask the same of Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.), who's 72, or minority leader Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.) He is 70."


http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/nancy..._source=Eloqua

Journal . isms
 

"The Federal Communications Commission just released its report on the ownership of commercial broadcast stations which reveals that as of 2011, whites own 69.4% of the nation's 1,348 television stations. That's up from 63.4% in 2009, when there were 1,187 stations.

"While white ownership increased, most minority ownership decreased. Blacks went from owning 1% of all commercial TV stations in 2009 to just 0.7% in 2011. Asian ownership slipped from 0.8% in 2009 to 0.5% last year. Latino ownership increased slightly from 2.5% to 2.9%.

"Females owned 6.8% of all commercial TV stations in 2011, compared to 5.6% in 2009.

"It is a similar story in radio. Whites own almost 80% of all AM and FM radio stations, with more than 70% being owned by men."


http://www.theroot.com/blogs/blacks-...=root_lightbox

Last Gasp for Arizona's Voter Suppression Tradition
 

"Reportedly over 1,500 clear plastic boxes with ballots are stacked six feet high in the Maricopa County Recorder's office, and statewide some 600,000 ballots remain to be counted. In Maricopa County alone some 115,000 voters had to cast provisional ballots and 344,000 early votes remain to be counted, adding to the question about just how serious elections officials are about guaranteeing that all Latino citizens exercise their voting rights.

The national media should feature this situation as a classic case study of the voter suppression network in high gear."

Huffington Post Article: Latino Politics - Last Gasp for Arizona's Voter Suppression

Fourth-graders who flunk reading have faces marked
 

DECLO, Idaho (AP) — A fourth-grade teacher in southern Idaho is being criticized after having her students use permanent markers to draw on the faces of classmates who failed to meet reading goals.

Some parents and administrators say the punishments given to nine students in Summer Larsen’s class were inappropriate and left the children feeling shamed.

The students were allowed to choose their own incentive to meet the reading goal, but instead of a reward, the class chose a punishment: Students who failed to meet the goal could either stay inside at recess until it was met, or have their faces written on by classmates who met the goals.

Nine students didn’t meet the goals, the paper reported Friday. Three chose to forgo recess, and the other six chose to have their faces marked on.

‘‘Although all the students in the class agreed to the incentive, once it occurred it was not so well received. Nor should it have been,’’ Smyer said.

http://www.boston.com/news/education...hVK/story.html

--------------------------------------

I hope this goes viral...Walmart sucks
 

Sovereignty or ???
 

"It's similar to the Articles of Confederation," Hunter said. "The states were sovereign states before they were in the United States."




http://news.msn.com/us/episcopalians...ver-gay-issues

Anti-Gay Christian Lawyer Arrested For Possession Of Child Pornography


Manchester lawyer facing federal child pornography charges arrested by FBI at courthouse


A Manchester lawyer took a teenage girl to Canada, had her engage in sexual activity and convinced her to let it be filmed, according to federal indictments.

FBI agents swiftly arrested Lisa Biron yesterday morning as she awaited a hearing on child pornography charges at Manchester’s district court. About 9 a.m. FBI agents entered the courtroom, told Biron to leave her belongings and took her into an adjoining conference room where she remained for several minutes before coming out in handcuffs.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/2...yer-manchester


Karma is a bitch. These stories just kill me. Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves

NOM and It's Logic
 

Gay Marriage Opponents Lost the Election, But They Have Lots of Excuses
By William Saletan | Posted Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, at 7:59 AM ET
| Posted Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, at 7:59 AM ET



http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...ts_lose.2.html

Southern Poverty Law Center Names MRA's as Hate Groups
 

http://radicalhub.com/2012/03/09/sou...as-hate-group/


In its latest quarterly publication “The Year in Hate and Extremism” (Issue 45, Spring 2012) the Southern Poverty Law Center, or SPLC, names Men’s Rights Activists as a hate group, citing the MRAs’ — alternately known as “Father’s Rights Activists” — virulent misogyny, spreading of false anti-woman propaganda and applauding and even encouraging acts of domestic terrorism and extreme violence against women and children, up to and including murder. In the same issue, the SPLC reports on the activities of other hate groups with headlines such as Georgia Militia Members to be Tried Later this Year in Movement’s Latest Murder Plot; Son of Holocaust Memorial Shooter Discusses Family History of Racial Hate; and Animal Rights Extremist Camille Marino Calls for Violence.

NaziZona
 

So I rant about the evil Sheriff of Maricopa County AZ, Joe Arpaio who is the curator of "Tent City" and spent $100,000 to go to Hawaii to search for Obama's birth certificate. The hateful Sheriff who has his own civilian posse to hunt for "illegals" in the desert so that they can be shot, or tortured while dehydrated, and already suffering..is on a roll. Now he wants to arm his deputies with automatic weapons to shoot "illegals" (side note: I despise the term "illegals" these are human beings many who have expired visa's and are backlogged in paperwork in a very slow immigration system) and the local community is furious that this maniac is allowed to stay in power.

To illustrate just how sick this guy is, here is one of his weapons of mass destruction, paid for by our tax dollars:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KgBT8kIRgB...+Drug+Tank.JPG


http://ipsnews-net.wpengine.netdna-c...ico-small1.jpg

The Twinkie Manifesto - (or, the value in revisiting history)
 

The Twinkie, it turns out, was introduced way back in 1930. In our memories, however, the iconic snack will forever be identified with the 1950s, when Hostess popularized the brand by sponsoring “The Howdy Doody Show.” And the demise of Hostess has unleashed a wave of baby boomer nostalgia for a seemingly more innocent time.

Needless to say, it wasn’t really innocent. But the ’50s — the Twinkie Era — do offer lessons that remain relevant in the 21st century. Above all, the success of the postwar American economy demonstrates that, contrary to today’s conservative orthodoxy, you can have prosperity without demeaning workers and coddling the rich.

Consider the question of tax rates on the wealthy. The modern American right, and much of the alleged center, is obsessed with the notion that low tax rates at the top are essential to growth. Remember that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, charged with producing a plan to curb deficits, nonetheless somehow ended up listing “lower tax rates” as a “guiding principle.”

Yet in the 1950s incomes in the top bracket faced a marginal tax rate of 91, that’s right, 91 percent, while taxes on corporate profits were twice as large, relative to national income, as in recent years. The best estimates suggest that circa 1960 the top 0.01 percent of Americans paid an effective federal tax rate of more than 70 percent, twice what they pay today.

Read more here.

---------------------------------


Good stuff.

Let us never forget
 

Sun, thank you so much for encouraging me to go to my local UU church last Sunday. They held an incredible Day of Remembrance. There were many tears when they lit candles for those killed this year because of transphobia.

Counterfeit (Faux) Merchandise and Homeland Security
 

"Up to 80 percent of the counterfeit merchandise is manufactured in China and Hong Kong, federal authorities say. India and Pakistan are other hot spots for manufacturers and suppliers."


http://www.ocregister.com/news/count...rchandise.html

Last chance for Hostess brands: Mediation
 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Management at Hostess Brands and leaders of the Bakery Workers union may agree on only one thing heading into mediation Tuesday -- neither expected to be there.

The results of the mediation, scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday., will determine if the company and its 18,500 jobs can be saved. If not, Tuesday's session will prove to be only a slight detour on the way to liquidation for the maker of such iconic products as Twinkies, Wonder Bread and Drake's snacks.


The mediation session was essentially ordered by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Drain, who will also oversee the meeting. He said he wanted to try to do everything he could to try to find a deal before he ruled on the company's motion to liquidate.

"My desire to do this is prompted primarily by the possibility of the loss of 18,000 jobs," he said during the hearing Monday afternoon.

Related: Don't expect a different outcome for Hostess

Hostess is on the brink of closing after years of losses and a strike started on Nov. 9 by the Bakery Workers, which represents 5,000 workers at the company. The union insists that membership voted 90% against the concessions imposed on them by the company as part of its bankruptcy, concessions other workers agreed to accept.

The Bakery Workers union held the votes on the concessions during public meetings at union halls. But the Teamsters union let its 6,700 members vote using a secret ballot, and members voted 53% to accept the concessions. Last week, as the company threatened liquidation, the Teamsters asked that the Bakery Workers hold a secret ballot vote on the concessions, in the hopes that the bakers might be more willing to accept management's terms in private to avoid a shutdown.


On Monday after the mediation was ordered, the Teamsters union said it would do everything it could to help the two sides reach a deal to save the company

"We are hopeful that the bakers' union and the management team can find common ground during this mediation and avert liquidation," said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall. "It is in the best interest of all parties involved that we remember what is at stake -- the future of 18,500 workers and their families. This is not only about a brand or a product, it is also about real people that just want to work hard every day to provide for their families."

No mediation was met for Hostess and employees. They will liquidate. Whatever will happen to the twinkie?

I have never bought a box of twinkies for my kids and the other day my 5-year-old was devastated that the 'winkie dogs' were gone. It took me a few minutes to figure out that he was talking about twinkies. He's never had one, but he's so sad they're gone. I'm one of those mean moms who won't buy stuff like that.

PETA to Obama: Don't Pardon Turkeys
 

It's a White House tradition with a century and a half of history behind it, but PETA is asking the White House to skip it this year.

Today President Obama is set to pardon two turkeys - Cobbler and Gobbler - just as every president since George H. W. Bush has. The tradition finds its roots in a moment of sympathy Abe Lincoln's son, Tad, had for their table's turkey back in the 1860s.

Now Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, says the turkey pardon has got to go.

"It makes light of the mass slaughter of some 46 million gentle, intelligent birds and portrays the United States' president as being in some sort of business partnership with the turkey-killing industry," Newkirk wrote in a letter sent to President Obama today. "Turkeys do not need to be 'pardoned'-they are not guilty of anything other than being born into a world of prejudice. They are innocents who should be respected for who they are: good mothers, smart birds, and interesting animals."

"You understand so well that African-Americans, women, and members of the LGBT community have been poorly served throughout history," Newkirk writes, "and now I am asking you to consider other living beings who are ridiculed, belittled, and treated as if their sentience, feelings, and very natures count for nothing."

Those are turkeys she's talking about.

When asked if the comparison of turkeys with minority Americans was a little extreme, PETA spokesperson Ashley Byrne answered that turkeys feel pain and fear, just like humans.

"Everyone deserves to be free from suffering, and that includes turkeys," Byrne said.

So will the White House forego the fowl tradition and opt for Tofurkey? Not likely.

Last year PETA similarly took issue with the term "pardon," asking the White House to say "spare" instead. But the White House went along with its usual use of the p-word .

Byrne said this Thanksgiving gives Obama a new opportunity to connect with his constituency and go vegan like another Democratic president - Bill Clinton - who gave up his beloved hamburgers, all meat in fact, for health reasons after leaving office.

"With more Americans than ever cutting meat out of their diets, we hope that the president could see this as a way to get with the times," Byrne said.

http://news.yahoo.com/peta-asks-obam...-politics.html

New body scanner offers virtual tape measure for online shopping
 

LONDON (Reuters) - British researchers have come up with a new body scanning device that gives accurate measurements and could boost online clothes shopping.

Shoppers are still nervous about ordering clothes online because they often do not fit and, some say, there will never be a substitute for trying something on - one reason why the boom in online retail has not had the same impact on clothing as on music, books and electronics retailing.

In the United States, for instance, the consultancy ComScore estimated that only 14 percent of online spending went on clothes and accessories in the year to June.

The new scanner is being developed by the London College of Fashion, video imaging researchers at the University of Surrey and the company Bodymetrics.

The company already has in-store scanners that use the motion sensors from Microsoft Corp's Kinect gaming device in Bloomingdale's (part of Macy's Inc) in the United States, Selfridges and New Look in Britain, and Karstadt in Germany.

Some firms, including Berlin-based Upcloud, are already offering home scanners that use a webcam, but the British developers say their system is able to measure in unprecedented detail.

Philip Delamore from the London College of Fashion estimates that 30 to 60 percent of clothes bought online are returned.

"It's common for online shoppers to order two or three different sizes of the same item of clothing at the same time as they're unsure which one will fit best," he said.

With the new system, a shopper inputs his or her height as a reference and can then take a single full-length picture with a webcam or smartphone from which all their other measurements are calculated.

It uses the measurements combined with a person's overall proportions to build a 3D image.

Combining this with sizing information from retailers, the system would also overcome the problem of variable sizing, which can mean a shopper is a "medium" in one store but a "large" in another.

The technology builds on previous work by the University of Surrey that was used to create animated characters in games like the Sims.

Adrian Hilton, who is working on the technology at the University, told Reuters that while some shoppers may still enjoy the experience of browsing in stores and trying on clothes, for others an improvement in the reliability of shopping online will be welcome.

"For the male market, I think we're there," he said.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/body-scanne...--finance.html

New Congress: Fewer moderates make deals harder
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the next Congress cranks up in January, there will be more women, many new faces and 11 fewer tea party-backed House Republicans from the class of 2010 who sought a second term, and for the first time, more than half of House Democrats — 105, in this case — will not be white males.

Overriding those changes, though, is a thinning of pragmatic, centrist veterans in both parties. Among those leaving are some of the Senate’s most pragmatic lawmakers, nearly half the House’s centrist Blue Dog Democrats and several moderate House Republicans.

That could leave the parties more polarized even as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders talk up the cooperation needed to tackle complex, vexing problems such as curbing deficits, revamping tax laws and culling savings from Medicare and other costly, popular programs.

‘‘This movement away from the center, at a time when issues have to be resolved from the middle, makes it much more difficult to find solutions to major problems,’’ said William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a private group advocating compromise.

Full story.

Kill List’ rule book may be coming soon to the White House Situation Room
 

The White House "kill list"--a regularly updated chart showing the world's most wanted terrorists used by President Barack Obama during kill or capture debates--may soon be getting a rule book to go with it.

According to the New York Times, the administration--faced with the possibility that President Obama might lose the 2012 election to Mitt Romney--"accelerated work in the weeks before the election to develop explicit rules for the targeted killing of terrorists by unmanned drones, so that a new president would inherit clear standards and procedures."

Until now, President Obama has had the "final moral calculation" overseeing the "kill list," the existence of which was first revealed in May in the wake of a drone strike that killed an al-Qaida leader.

But according to the paper, administration officials are looking to curb the power of the commander in chief with the rule book.

President Obama has voiced his support for such rules.

"Creating a legal structure, processes, with oversight checks on how we use unmanned weapons is going to be a challenge for me and my successors for some time to come," President Obama said in an interview with author Mark Bowden for "The Finish," a book on the killing of Osama bin Laden. "There's a remoteness to it that makes it tempting to think that somehow we can, without any mess on our hands, solve vexing security problems."

Full story

This is hilarious/awesome.
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...6pLid%3D238305

Watch the video.

ConAgra buying Ralcorp in $5 billion bet on store brands
 

(Reuters) - Long-time suitor ConAgra Foods Inc finally sealed a deal to buy private-label foods maker Ralcorp Holdings Inc for $5 billion, to tap into the booming business for packaged food that stores sell under their own brands.

Demand for private-label foods has outpaced growth in branded packaged foods as consumers buy more lower-priced options marketed by stores. ConAgra Chief Executive Gary Rodkin said he expects that growth to continue.

Combining Ralcorp's scale as a leading private-label provider with ConAgra's innovation and category management, "you've got a very powerful story in a very fragmented private-label industry," he said.

The deal, broadens ConAgra's exposure to faster-growing retailers with robust private-label brands, like Whole Foods and Costco, he said.

"We'll be able to capitalize on the long-term growth momentum in the private label business, which has been growing about twice as fast as branded on a dollar basis over the last 13 years," Rodkin said on a conference call.

Ralcorp is the top private-label maker of large and growing categories like cereal, pasta, crackers, jams and jellies, syrups and frozen waffles, he said.

Full story

-------------------------------------


Good for shareholders. Not so good for consumers.

The 23-year-old was beaten at her girlfriend's family Thanksgiving celebration.
BY DIANE ANDERSON-MINSHALL NOVEMBER 26 2012 4:00 PM ET
351

A Thanksgiving Day assault on a young lesbian in Mobile County, Ala. has infuriated LGBT activists who responded with a viral campaign to get hate crime charges filed against the alleged perpetrator. According to Robin Raven at Yahoo! News, 23-year-old Mallory Owens was invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with her girlfriend's family. What happened there was anything but festive. According to Yahoo! she was attacked by her girlfriend's brother, 18-year-old Travis Hawkins, Jr., and sustained a number of severe injuries including, among others, bleeding on the brain, crushed cheek bones, broken nose, and skull fractures.

Travis Hawkins, Jr. was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. but Owens' family and supporters are calling for hate crime charges against the man. There is a Facebook group, Justice Today for Mallory, which Sonia Mason, owner of The Red Carpet in Pensacola, Fla., started to get the word out about the tragic crime. Posts on Facebook have been cropping up all over the U.S. today in support of Owens.

There's also a petition on Change.org aimed at pushing Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich to to meter out the proper justice for Travis Hawkins, Jr.

But, it took four days for the mainstream media to pick up the story, says Raven, and only then "after a cry from the supporters of Mallory who flooded their Facebook page with requests for a report on the tragedy" did local news station WKRG report on the assault.

According to FoxTV10, Owens is currently recieving treatment at USA Hospital in Mobile. The station also reports that this isn't the first the police have heard of Hawkins. In 2011, his father shot the then-17-year-old in the chest.

Female military members sue to serve in combat
 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Four female service members filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the Pentagon's ban on women serving in combat, hoping the move will add pressure to drop the policy just as officials are gauging the effect that lifting the prohibition will have on morale.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, is the second one this year over the 1994 rule that bars women from being assigned to ground combat units, which are smaller and considered more dangerous since they are often in battle for longer periods.

The legal effort comes less than a year after the ban on gays serving openly was lifted and as officials are surveying Marines about whether women would be a distraction in ground combat units.

"I'm trying to get rid of the ban with a sharp poke," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jennifer Hunt, who was among the plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit and was injured in 2007 when her Humvee ran over an improvised explosive device in Iraq.

Hunt and the other three women said the policy unfairly blocks them from promotions and other advancements open to men in combat. Three of the women are in the reserves. A fourth, Marine Corp Lt. Colleen Farrell, leaves active duty this week.

Women comprise 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel. The lawsuit alleges that women are barred from 238,000 positions across the Armed Forces.

At a Washington, D.C., news conference, Pentagon press secretary George Little said the Defense Department was making strides in allowing more women into combat. He said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has opened about 14,500 combat positions to women.

"And he has directed the services to explore the possibility of opening additional roles for women in the military," Little said. "His record is very strong on this issue."

Full story

--------------------------------------


Cant figure out how I feel about this.

On the one hand, I understand women wanting to have the opportunity to advance in the military and needing combat duty to achieve it.

On the other hand, this is stirring up the problem I have with the military mentality. Or maybe with our military men and women being used as pawns in unjustifiable wars. Dunno. Have to think this thru.