Breaking News Events

[Sun]

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:

[Kobi]

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.

[Sun]

[Angeltoes]

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.

[Greyson]

Police crack down on designer deceit in Orange County

"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

[ruffryder]

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."

[ruffryder]

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

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by ruffryder

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

Twinkie will become the Steelers new fill in (or filling) quarterback.

[Sun]

Originally Posted by Angeltoes

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.

Really glad that you liked the congregation and I hope that you will go back. More religious communities should be doing TDOR services, this is a tragic reality and vigils of remembrance are one way to bring awareness to this issue while also giving people a space to grieve.

[Angeltoes]

Originally Posted by ruffryder

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.

[Sun]

White House, Obama Administration Mark 14th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance

[Kobi]

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

[Kobi]

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

[Kobi]

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.

[Kobi]

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

[DapperButch]

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

Watch the video.

[Kobi]

(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

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Good for shareholders. Not so good for consumers.

[morningstar55]

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.

[Kobi]

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.

[Corkey]

Originally Posted by Kobi

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.

Thing is women have been serving in combat, just weren't paid for it or get the bennies for it. That being said, they should win their case.