tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59841107616838614052024-03-05T09:25:09.973-08:00Hypatia of CaliforniaScientist, Scholar, Woman, Phoenix...<p>
Motto: Who Says?</p>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.comBlogger248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-20313644711317226642012-03-22T01:02:00.000-07:002012-03-22T01:02:54.091-07:00New Jersey mayor (R) admits he never served in Vietnam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10791290-new-jersey-mayor-admits-he-never-served-in-vietnam">New Jersey mayor (R) admits he never served in Vietnam</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-7520012800634844392012-03-03T01:35:00.001-08:002012-03-03T01:52:34.093-08:00Our Native American Immigrant Roots 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglala_Lakota" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglala_Lakota</a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sylvia Mitchell Lynch bore and raised her children Bernard, Rose Iva, and Patricia Ann in Lily, South Dakota. Their father Leo Louis Lynch came from German and Irish stock. </div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sylvia was born in 1905, of the same stock. Nothing surprising about that. The great German and Irish immigrations occurred during the 19th century. Sylvia fell in love with Leo Lynch when she was 14. Oglala Lakota Sioux blood ran through her veins as well, with some French thrown in for spice. I am not surprised, remembering Grandma. Lily is smack dab in the middle of ancient Sioux land, so no surprises there either. </div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Sylvia's father Emerson Mitchell was half Oglala Lakota Sioux. A handsome man with a sunny personality, Emerson delighted in playing the fiddle on the front porch of the farmhouse during parties he dreamed up. My mother Rose said that "everyone loved Pa." Sylvia, my grandmother, did not play the fiddle but she played a sweet harmonica.</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Many terrible events devastated the Sioux, and yet they remain. We come from them. It's easy to learn more about the Sioux. The two most important books in their 20th Century history are <a href="http://www.enotes.com/bury-heart-wounded-knee">Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee </a>and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57585.In_the_Spirit_of_Crazy_Horse">In the Spirit of Crazy Horse</a>. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown, was made into a <a href="http://www.hulu.com/search?query=Bury+My+Heart+at+Wounded+Knee&st=1&fs=">movie</a>. </div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">###</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-20492148724494464442012-02-25T18:10:00.000-08:002012-02-25T18:10:12.087-08:00Newt Gingrich may have sunk to a new low, but the commenter here sure does him one better<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Newt Gingrich's overtly racist comments during this election season reach new lows in uncivil discourse. Between Gingrich and Santorum, the US electorate is getting far more information than it needs about the sick slimy underbelly of the Republican Party.<br />
<br />
~Via<br />
<br />
http://www.theroot.com/buzz/newt-gingrich-sinks-new-low#comments<br />
<br />
At his<a href="http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-low.html" target="_blank"> Field Negro</a> blog, Wayne Bennett accuses Newt Gingrich of fearmongering in his attack on President Obama for apologizing to Afghans for the inadvertent burning of the Quran. Such talk only fuels anti-Muslim sentiments, Bennett says.<br />
<em>What Newt did today was low even by his<a href="http://freakoutnation.com/2011/03/02/newt-gingrich-who-cheated-on-his-cancer-stricken-wife-is-wooing-christians-support-in-a-possible-presidential-bid/" target="_blank"> lousy standards</a>. </em><br />
<em>He hastily called a news conference to politicize the deaths of two American soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. Newt used the killing of those poor soldiers to score cheap political brownie points with his base.</em><br />
<br />
<em>And here's our commenter, Mr. </em><i><span class="js-singleCommentText jsk-ItemBodyText">Friedo Watermellow</span></i><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="js-singleCommentText jsk-ItemBodyText">Newt is right on target. <br />
Wayne Bennet your mentallity isn't American what so ever. <br />
You like Obama because he's black and that's the only reason, unless your a total moron. <br />
Your kind see the glass half empty. <br />
We Americans have the greatest country on Earth because we worked hard for it, unlike you and Obama we don't have the beggar mentallity and we don't have to appologize to every nation that doesn't like our policies. <br />
The terrorist used the Koran to make notes in for other terrorist and this POS president appologizes to these low life terrorist.</span></blockquote><br />
And here is my reply:<br />
<br />
<span class="js-singleCommentText jsk-ItemBodyText">Friedo Watermello, your racist white supremacist views tell us all we need to know about how hard you work. After all, it was you white guys who had slaves build the White House.</span> </div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-44969374419395892822012-02-08T00:38:00.001-08:002012-02-09T00:00:13.761-08:00Friends<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 5:52 PM, Jennifer Van Bergen wrote: <br />
<blockquote>Deb,<br />
I know how terrible tooth infections can be and you have been suffering from an infection in ALL of the top ones?! And must have them ALL pulled? AND a hurt (?) ankle. Terrible, terrible you have to go through all this, but at least you will get these things taken care of and will heal.</blockquote><blockquote>Funny what you say about being decrepit and over-committed. I may have mentioned to you what Matt said during the trip, since our health problems made very loud appearances in us both. He said he thought that instead of looking for property for 12GI, maybe we should look for a nursing home.</blockquote>Haha. Handi want both a cooperative living space and our own space, which we quite adequately fill, as long as it has a workshop :) We could have a nursing home with wood and metal shop, a printing and publishing operation, communal kitchen, auditorium, and comfy individual units. I have drawn several plans. My most recent creation is a snail house. People are afraid to have me draw it. *snicker*<br />
<blockquote>Also, funny because when I first read that phrase (decrepit, etc.), I thought you meant everyone on the list (to which you didn't post)! And maybe you are unwittingly correct! At least exhausted and over-committed. </blockquote><blockquote><i>There's something about you that I love very much, Deb, and always have and have never told you. I really love your innocent perspicaciousness. You're so smart (in ways I'm not) and strong in ways I really admire, but you're also sweet and innocent at the same time. Your Midwest (sounds like Minnesota to me) accent emphasizes this, altho I felt it before I ever heard your voice (and if someone just heard you and hadn't discussed with you or read your words, they might mistake you for something less, because you sound so young and innocent).</i></blockquote>I am so deeply touched by what you said about me.<br />
<blockquote>Good ideas for 12Gen and the church. Funny, too, cuz Matt also said we ought to establish it as a religion! Then he moved onto "why not a cult"? LOL!</blockquote>As you may know, that's how scientology started. Rather, I propose a religion based upon human values, human rights, and human aspirations. <br />
<blockquote>I told you, didn't I, about my brilliant promotional idea? To write a book of clues. Or a treasure map for people to follow. Or a code for readers to break. </blockquote><blockquote>One thing we discussed was whether this might make it so popular, it would get out of control.<br />
Anyway, would you please post something on the 12GI ning site about your idea? There are a few people on there who have NO clue what archetypes work is, but they joined for some reason, so .... Actually, come to think of it, maybe I should just go ahead and subscribe some people to the 12GI yahoogroup (letting them know in advance so they can object if they really need to). That way, if you (or someone else) posted a suggestion or subject of discussion, others might even be inspired to respond. Who knows?! </blockquote><blockquote>There's a vacuum in the center of the world right now - a black hole - that is sucking everything into it, all people of conscience and intelligence and wit, all goodness and will power, all inspiration, all love. What is to become of us?</blockquote>I am frightened by this trend. I am also heartened to have found so many sisters and brothers. <br />
Peace and love, <br />
~Deb </div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-92104080048748055262012-02-06T01:50:00.000-08:002012-02-08T00:40:12.376-08:00Two Cheers for the Endangered Species Act<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">by Olivia LaRosa, February 5, 2012<br />
<br />
I wish to make certain that it is clear to you that I was completely in love with the Endangered Species Act since its passage when I was a young mother. I thought I knew what the Endangered Species Act meant. I saw it as a means to protect our critical biosystems. I see a biosystem as a natural long-term self-perpetuating synergy among the lifeforms who share an area.<br />
<br />
The ESA meant of course, that if a species' population begins to decline to dangerous levels, scientists were alerted that something was not well in that biosystem. Thus alerted, they could investigate the biome for harmful agents that might hurt humans, other animals, plants and microbes in the system.<br />
<br />
It turns out that I was in error.<br />
<br />
The Endangered Species Act has been turned into a political football. Right-wingers, who seem to think that everything belongs to them unless proven otherwise, mock the process by pretending that it is about the critter named in ESA documents rather than that critter's entire habitat. </div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-8921664051879197422012-02-05T14:24:00.000-08:002012-02-05T20:12:59.296-08:00On Scaling Back the Confirmation Wars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/scaling-back-the-senate-confirmation-wars/2012/02/02/gIQAvXuCqQ_print.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/scaling-back-the-senate-confirmation-wars/2012/02/02/gIQAvXuCqQ_print.html</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Olivia's comment: These battles seem to have begun in earnest during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Robert Bork, a right-wing authoritarian fanatic. People with such narrow minds do not belong in high government posts. Since then the Republicans have turned confirmations into a blood sport. What their actions say is that: when we are in control, we can appoint any old nutcase we want. Plus, no matter who is in control, our job is to make sure that effective leaders will not be appointed. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushism-trifecta.htm">Therefore, it's a trifecta! </a>* As a right-wing politician, you have another trifecta! You can pander to your corporate masters, score cheap political points with your base, and enhance your argument that government does not work by making it unworkable.</span></blockquote>George W. Bush after 911:<br />
<div id="abw" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 50%; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; width: 984px;"><div id="abb" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.226563) 0px 10px 15px; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.226563) 0px 10px 15px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit;"><div class="clear" id="abm" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; zoom: 1;"><div id="abc" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: -342px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; width: 954px;"><div id="articlebody" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 357px; margin-top: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: static; text-decoration: inherit;"><div align="left" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"><table border="0" cellspacing="1" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: show; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="vertical-align: top;" width="100%"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; empty-cells: show; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top;"><strong style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana, geneva, helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushism-trifecta.htm">Bushism Audio Gallery</a><br />
</span></strong></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#cc0000" colspan="2" height="1" style="vertical-align: top;"><img border="0" height="1" src="http://z.about.com/" width="1" /></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" style="vertical-align: top;"><strong style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: verdana, geneva, helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Funny Audio Clips of Classic Bushisms<br />
</span></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b style="font-weight: bold;">"You know, I was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any time where the budget might have to go into deficit? I said only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in recession. Little did I realize we'd get the trifecta." —President George W. Bush, Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 27, 2002</b></span><div style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">(If audio clip does not play automatically, <a href="http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/multimedia/bushism_trifecta.mp3" style="color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">click here to listen</a>)</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-61850433080897272222012-02-03T22:12:00.000-08:002012-02-04T10:29:05.159-08:00Case Holdings That Make Me Mad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">by Olivia LaRosa 2/3/2012</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">From Findlaw.com's Weekly Summary of Opinions: Civil Procedure, Week of 1/31/2012 - 2/3/2012</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Banks Ripping Us Off in Yet Another Way</u></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">United States Ninth Circuit, 02/01/2012</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5984110761683861405&postID=6185043308089727222" name="13545dffe2ddabbe_10-56219" style="color: #147dba;"></a><a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1592585.html?DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="color: #147dba;" target="_blank">GECCMC 2005-C1 Plummer Street Office L.P. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., No. 10-56219</a></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In a suit alleging breach of lease agreements that the defendant bank assumed after it purchased a failed bank's assets and liabilities from the FDIC pursuant to the terms of a written purchase and assumption agreement, the district court's grant of the bank's motion to dismiss is affirmed, where under federal common law, the plaintiff lacked standing to bring suit under the agreement because it was not an intended third-party beneficiary of the agreement. </span><a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1592585.html?DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="background-color: white; color: #147dba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">Read more...</a> <br />
<br />
<b>Where was her attorney, AWOL, ffs? WTF! Plus, turning down an offer in compromise is not supposed to affect the final outcome in a suit such as this.</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<a href="http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2012/g044718.html&DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro">http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2012/g044718.html&DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro</a> <br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In a wrongful termination suit that the plaintiff lost and after which the defendant filed a memorandum of costs, the trial court's order denying the plaintiff's motion to tax those costs is affirmed, where the costs were properly calculated and awarded in all respects, and Code of Civil Procedure section 998(c) gives the trial court the discretion to award expert fees to the defendant, regardless of whose witness the expert is, if the plaintiff fails to obtain a more favorable judgment or award after rejecting an offer to compromise. </span><a href="http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2012/g044718.html&DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="background-color: white; color: #147dba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">Read more...</a> <br />
<br />
<b><u>A legally protected entity claims stupidity and wins...</u></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">California Court of Appeal, 02/02/2012</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5984110761683861405&postID=6185043308089727222&from=pencil" name="13545dffe2ddabbe_B230595" style="color: #147dba;"></a><a href="http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2012/b230595.html&DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="color: #147dba;" target="_blank">Lewow v. Surfside III Condominium Owners' Ass'n, Inc., No. B230595</a></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In a case in which judgment was entered in favor of a condominium association on a complaint for failure to perform its duties, against a plaintiff who subsequently filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the trial court's award of attorney's fees to the association is affirmed, where: 1) although the motion for fees was not timely filed, there was good cause for the delay, as it was understandable that the association was mistaken on the complex and debatable issue of whether the bankruptcy stay tolled the limitations period; and 2) although the trial court's articulated rationale for granting the fees was erroneous, its acceptance of the association's tolling argument was tantamount to a finding of good cause based on mistake. </span><a href="http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/caapp4th/slip/2012/b230595.html&DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="background-color: white; color: #147dba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">Read more...</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span> <br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><u>Company goes bankrupt to avoid paying legally contracted wages</u></b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</b><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">United States Fourth Circuit, 02/02/2012</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5984110761683861405&postID=6185043308089727222&from=pencil" name="13545dffe2ddabbe_10-2418" style="color: #147dba;"></a><a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1592591.html?DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="color: #147dba;" target="_blank">Gentry v. Siegel, No. 10-2418</a></b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">In bankruptcy proceedings in which former employees of the debtor filed claims for unpaid overtime wages, the district court's judgment affirming the bankruptcy court's denial of a Rule 9014 motion and its refusal to allow the claimants to pursue class actions is affirmed, where: 1) the bankruptcy court was within its discretion to rule that the bankruptcy process would provide a process superior to the class action process for resolving the claims of former employees; 2) notice of the bankruptcy process to the named claimants was not constitutionally deficient; and 3) with respect to unnamed claimants, the named claimants lacked standing to challenge the notice. </span><a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-4th-circuit/1592591.html?DCMP=NWL-pro_civpro" style="background-color: white; color: #147dba; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;" target="_blank">Read more...</a> <br />
<br />
</div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-37939786321205543792012-01-17T21:36:00.000-08:002012-01-17T21:36:24.674-08:00We Knew Ward Connerly was a Liar; He is also a Thief<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="columnGroup first" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; width: auto !important;"><h1 class="articleHeadline" style="color: black; font-size: 2.4em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.083em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0">Affirmative-Action Foe Is Facing Allegations of Financial Misdeeds</nyt_headline></h1><nyt_byline><h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 2px;">By <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/charlie_savage/index.html?inline=nyt-per" rel="author" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by Charlie Savage">CHARLIE SAVAGE</a></h6></nyt_byline><h6 class="dateline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Published: January 17, 2012</h6><div class="articleTools" id="articleToolsTop" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; width: 132px;"><div class="box" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="inset" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><ul class="toolsList wrap" id="toolsList" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 14px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 9px; padding-left: 0px;"><li id="facebook_item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="" id="facebook_button" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/facebook.gif); background-position: -1px -1px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 1em;">RECOMMEND</span></a></li>
<li id="twitter_item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="" id="twitter_button" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/twitter.gif); background-position: -1px -1px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: 1em;">TWITTER</span></a></li>
<li id="linkedin_item" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="" id="linkedin_button" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/linkedin.gif); background-position: -1px -1px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">LINKEDIN</a></li>
<li class="email" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><form action="http://www.nytimes.com/mem/emailthis.html" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" id="emailThis" method="POST" name="emailThis" style="font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></form><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all" id="emailThis" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/tools_email.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 2px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #333333; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">E-MAIL</a></li>
<li class="print" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=print" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/tools_print.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #333333; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">PRINT</a></li>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;"></a><nyt_reprints_form>
<li class="reprints" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><form action="https://s100.copyright.com/CommonApp/LoadingApplication.jsp" name="cccform" style="display: inline; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" target="_Icon"></form><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all#" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/tools_reprints.gif); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #333333; display: block; line-height: 13px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">REPRINTS</a></li>
</nyt_reprints_form>
<li class="closed last" id="shareMenu" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0.45em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: rgb(234, 232, 233); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; height: 16px !important; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px; text-transform: uppercase; width: 168px;"><a class="shareButton" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all#" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/functions/toolsicon_anim.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #333333; display: block; line-height: 13px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">SHARE</a></li>
</ul><div class="articleToolsSponsor" id="Frame4A" style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/us&pos=Frame4A&sn2=49a9ec0b/60172910&sn1=fecde0f6/ddaab28d&camp=FSL2012_ArticleTools_120x60_1787487b_nyt5&ad=BEMH_120x60_jan13&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2Fthebestexoticmarigoldhotel%2F" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="60" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/adx/images/ADS/28/94/ad.289411/BEMH_NYT120x60.gif" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial;" width="120" /></a></div></div></div></div><div class="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em;">WASHINGTON — <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/ward_connerly/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about Ward Connerly.">Ward Connerly</a>, the black businessman who has been the face of the movement to end affirmative action for nearly two decades, is facing accusations from a prominent former ally that he has mismanaged — and exploited for his own benefit — donations to that cause made by fellow conservatives.</div></nyt_text></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-top: 6px !important; width: 190px;"><div class="inlineImage module" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; width: 190px;"><div class="image" style="margin-bottom: 2px;"><div class="icon enlargeThis" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; margin-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 16px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/multimedia/enlarge_icon.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #666699; display: inline; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; padding-left: 15px; text-decoration: none;">Enlarge This Image</a></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all" style="color: #666699; display: block; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" height="275" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/01/18/us/CHARITY-1/CHARITY-1-articleInline.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial;" width="190" /></a></div><h6 class="credit" style="color: #909090; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.223em; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">Jim Wilson/The New York Times</h6><div class="caption" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em;">Ward Connerly</div></div><div class="columnGroup doubleRule" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; padding-top: 12px; width: auto !important;"></div></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-top: -11px; width: 190px;"><h6 class="sectionHeader flushBottom" style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2857em; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Multimedia</h6></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft firstArticleInline" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-top: 0px; width: 190px;"><div class="story" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="wideThumb" style="margin-bottom: 4px; width: 190px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/18/us/18charity-letter.html?ref=us" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" border="0" height="126" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com//images/2012/01/18/us/charity-190.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; display: block;" width="190" /><span class="mediaOverlay document" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/multimedia/icons/document_icon.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 4px 4px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.182em; margin-top: -20px; opacity: 0.8; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 3px;">Document</span></a></div><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/18/us/18charity-letter.html?ref=us" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">Letter Accuses Affirmative-Action Opponent of Mismanaging Funds</a></h6><h6 class="byline" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 2px;"></h6></div></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-top: 0px; width: 190px;"><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-top: 6px !important; width: 190px;"></div><div class="columnGroup doubleRule" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; padding-top: 12px; width: auto !important;"><h3 class="sectionHeader" style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2857em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Related</h3><ul class="headlinesOnly multiline flush" style="list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Times Topic: <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/ward_connerly/index.html" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none;">Ward Connerly</a></h6></li>
</ul></div><div class="doubleRule" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/global/borders/doubleRule.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; padding-top: 12px;"><div class="story" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px;"><div class="runaroundRight" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 2px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/nytnational" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="National Twitter Logo." height="75" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/09/26/us/nationaltwitter/nationaltwitter-thumbStandard-v2.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial;" width="75" /></a></div><h4 style="color: black; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.1429em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/nytnational" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">Connect With Us on Twitter</a></h4><div class="summary" style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 5px;">Follow<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/nytnational" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">@NYTNational</a> for breaking news and headlines.</div><div class="summary" style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/NYTNational/nyt-national-desk" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">Twitter List: Reporters and Editors</a></div></div></div><div class="inlineImage module" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; width: 190px;"><div class="image" style="margin-bottom: 2px;"><div class="icon enlargeThis" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; margin-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 16px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all" style="background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/icons/multimedia/enlarge_icon.gif); background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #666699; display: inline; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; padding-left: 15px; text-decoration: none;">Enlarge This Image</a></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/us/ward-connerly-faces-allegations-of-fiscal-misdoing.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globaleua210&pagewanted=all" style="color: #666699; display: block; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" height="275" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/01/18/us/CHARITY-2/CHARITY-2-articleInline.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial;" width="190" /></a></div><h6 class="credit" style="color: #909090; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.223em; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times</h6><div class="caption" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em;">Jennifer Gratz</div></div></div><div class="articleBody" style="margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em;"><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Moreover, a group Mr. Connerly founded to advance government policies that are race and gender neutral, the Sacramento-based<a href="http://www.acri.org/" style="color: #666699;">American Civil Rights Institute</a>, is under investigation by the <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/internal_revenue_service/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #666699;" title="More articles about the Internal Revenue Service.">Internal Revenue Service</a> and by the attorney general of California, according to documents and interviews.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Connerly has faced accusations of profiteering before, as supporters of affirmative action highlighted his salary in an effort to discredit his cause. But this time, the allegations are more detailed and come from another significant movement figure: Jennifer Gratz, the named plaintiff in a landmark <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-516.ZS.html" style="color: #666699;" title="Supreme Court opinion in Gratz v. Bollinger case">2003 Supreme Court case</a> that struck down a race-based admissions policy at the University of Michigan.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">After she won that case, Mr. Connerly hired Ms. Gratz to conduct research and run campaigns supporting anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives. She resigned last September and, through her lawyer, sent the group’s board a five-page letter, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/18/us/18charity-letter.html" style="color: #666699;" title="Ms. Gratz’s Letter">a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times</a>.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“For years, Ms. Gratz was aware of the allegations that Mr. Connerly received excessive compensation,” it said. “She presumed that the issue was politically motivated and raised solely by opponents of the organization’s mission. It has come to her attention, however, that there may be some merit to the allegations of financial impropriety.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Interviewed by phone and e-mail, Mr. Connerly, 72, acknowledged that his group had had financial difficulties, but said its board had not responded to the letter because “90 percent” of it was false. He portrayed Ms. Gratz as a “disgruntled former employee” trying to “besmirch me personally” because she wanted to replace him.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The letter was written by Ms. Gratz’s lawyer, <a href="http://www.alston.com/bob_driscoll/" style="color: #666699;">Robert N. Driscoll</a>, a former deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights in the administration of George W. Bush. In a statement, through him, she said: “I thought it was important to make sure all board members were aware of what was going on even if doing so was unfortunate, sad and uncomfortable and even though it meant that I had to resign from a position within a cause that I will always hold near and dear.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The dispute is alarming allies.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“I’m sorry to hear this because I’m a great admirer of both of them,” said Roger Clegg, the president of the <a href="http://www.ceousa.org/" style="color: #666699;">Center for Equal Opportunity</a>, which also opposes affirmative action. “She is a courageous, smart person — and Ward is also a courageous, smart person.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">A businessman and a former University of California regent, Mr. Connerly rose to fame in 1996 as the backer of a successful ballot initiative barring public institutions in California from taking race or gender into account. He later founded the institute and a related advocacy group and continued to call for “colorblind government” in matters like contracting and college admissions.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ms. Gratz’s letter alleges a series of financial irregularities, starting with Mr. Connerly’s pay.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Late last summer, the institute belatedly filed disclosure forms for tax years ending in June<a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/283918-acri-2007-990.html" style="color: #666699;" title="ACRI 2007 990 form">2008</a>, <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/283917-acri-2008-990.html" style="color: #666699;" title="ACRI 2008 990 form">2009</a>, and <a href="http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/283916-acri-2009-990.html" style="color: #666699;" title="ACRI 2009 990 form">2010</a>. (The I.R.S. that summer had revoked the tax-exempt status of its related advocacy group for failing to file such forms.) They showed that his annual pay was between $1.2 million and $1.5 million each year — more than half its revenue.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Because charitable donations are tax deductible, according to I.R.S. rules no employee may get excessive compensation. Two other nonprofit groups opposing affirmative action, the Center for Equal Opportunity and the <a href="http://www.cir-usa.org/" style="color: #666699;">Center for Individual Rights</a>, pay their leaders about $144,000 and $250,000, respectively.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Connerly said that “every penny which I receive is directly related to our mission,” and that he used some of his salary to pay others for research and legal work. He also said the group had reduced his pay to $850,000.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">One reason Mr. Connerly has been a particularly effective advocate is that he is black. Mr. Clegg said there were “few people who can do or would do what he does,” adding that it is hard to set a salary on a job that requires enduring racially charged name-calling from fellow blacks.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">A major financial supporter is the <a href="http://www.bradleyfdn.org/" style="color: #666699;">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a>. Its president, Michael W. Grebe, said he was “very comfortable” that its donations to Mr. Connerly’s group were “being spent for public education programs.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“He’s very effective,” Mr. Grebe said.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ms. Gratz’s letter contends that the group has been “in financial crisis since March 2010” in part because of Mr. Connerly’s salary and legal fees related to the tax investigations, and has “ceased almost entirely” doing projects furthering its mission since June 2011.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Her letter also says the group has had trouble making payroll and “knowingly” under-reported what it paid employees on payroll tax forms — “irregularities” that “partly result from disruptions in revenue” but that “also appear to be designed to facilitate Mr. Connerly’s high salary.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Connerly denied such allegations as “speculation and conjecture,” saying Ms. Gratz was not privy to administrative details. He also said educational activities by him and his group were “instrumental” in passing an anti-affirmative action initiative in Arizona in November 2010, and in laying the groundwork for a vote on a similar measure in Oklahoma set for fall 2012.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ms. Gratz’s letter said five of the group’s eight employees “are family members” or have “personal or nonprofessional relationships with Mr. Connerly,” and raised questions about its “contracts for services and leases.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">For example, the letter said, the group contracted with a former longtime employee of Mr. Connerly’s profit-making firm to create a report on Oklahoma, for up to 120 hours at $60 an hour; it “consisted mainly of printouts from Wikipedia.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">While the letter did not explain its reference to “leases,” the group’s recent tax filings show that its rent tripled, to just under $70,000, after it moved to a different building about four years ago. Records show a group employee purchased the building in February 2008 for about $444,000.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Mr. Connerly said hiring people he knew was appropriate, given his group’s “controversial” mission. He also said he had instructed the employee to find new offices because they needed more room, and he approved the arrangement she had made.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Despite his salary, Mr. Connerly acknowledged that he had had financial difficulties; public records show that in 2010 and 2011, several hundred thousand dollars in liens for unpaid taxes were leveled against him. He said he was working on paying what he owed. In addition, a disclosure form filed with the IRS says the institute discovered last year that Mr. Connerly had submitted “unsubstantiated” business expenses from his credit card and cellphone bills. He had paid back $10,000 as of September, but still owed about $24,000.</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ms. Gratz was once Mr. Connerly’s defender. In 2008, when anti-affirmative action initiatives were on the ballot in Colorado and Nebraska, a liberal group ran ads portraying him as supporting such measures so he could pocket “nonprofit slush funds.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ms. Gratz made a video denouncing the ads as character assassination. But, her letter said, she subsequently realized that Mr. Connerly’s group had “not been adequate stewards of the resources the donors entrusted to the organization,” adding that she “will cooperate with any government investigation.”</div><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><nyt_author_id></nyt_author_id></div><div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em;"><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.467em;">Kitty Bennett contributed research.</div></div><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em;"></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></div><div class="columnGroup " style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; width: auto !important;"><div class="articleFooter"><div class="articleMeta"><div class="opposingFloatControl wrap"><div class="element1" style="float: left;"><h6 class="metaFootnote" style="color: #aaaaaa; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.273em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 350px;">A version of this article appeared in print on January 18, 2012, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Affirmative-Action Foe Is Facing Allegations Of Financial Misdeeds.</h6></div></div></div></div></div></div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-33220440160991757802012-01-16T02:01:00.000-08:002012-01-16T02:01:53.489-08:00The eurozone’s three deadly sins: by Stephen King...not THAT Stephen King! Silly!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our <a href="http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/terms" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;">Ts&Cs</a> and <a href="http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;">Copyright Policy</a> for more detail. Email <a href="mailto:ftsales.support@ft.com" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;">ftsales.support@ft.com</a> to buy additional rights. <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/01/16/the-eurozones-three-deadly-sins/#ixzz1jc7UxtTv" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/01/16/the-eurozones-three-deadly-sins/#ixzz1jc7UxtTv</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">so, please read this article at the link above!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">This comment by Killerfish tickled me:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Stephen King is correct that QE by the ECB would help but he is also correct that it won't solve the crisis. He simply highlights how far the EU is from a solution to this problem and by 'solution' I mean something that puts the EU back on a sustainable growth path. The main concern should be that the only solution is either a period of hyper inflation to wipe out nominal debts or huge losses for investors as asset prices are allowed to fall naturally. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Also, don't forget that once the EU has got back on track there is always the question of how the US gets its debts under control before treasury investors revolt.</span> </div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-5886836973228146262012-01-16T01:52:00.001-08:002012-02-16T09:52:03.720-08:00OMG these freaking cords Chapter One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">by Olivia LaRosa 1/31/2012<br />
<br />
I am a cyborg. OMG these freaking cords!<br />
I have to charge my goldarn cellphone every night. Nevertheless, it will fail halfway through the next day, round about 1PM. <br />
This cellphone is a state-of-the-art Samsung Galaxy Captivate Android touchpad, an alleged geek-a-rama.<br />
Hardly!<br />
Only two weeks after delivery of my baby android, ATT sent me a message with a nine-page instruction sheet attached. I was ordered to upgrade my baby phone without delay. <br />
Well, I had other priorities at the time. I had not allocated the time to engage in extensive maintenance of my brand-new phone. <br />
Last month, I had put out the fires in my life, and attempted to upgrade from Android 2.1 to Android 2.2. <br />
Let me tell you, honey…<br />
I went to the ATT website and learned that I should visit the local ATT store. They would take care of me.<br />
So, I took the phone to an ATT store. After I waited for 45 minutes, the kid told me I had to go to the warranty store in Walnut Creek. <br />
I waited another hour at the ATT warranty store. The kid told me I had to upgrade to Android 2.1 to Android 2.2 before they would service my state-of-the-art phone. I said, “I just bought this phone. I don’t want to spend five hours performing an upgrade that you should have done.”<br />
He shrugged. <br />
The links at ATT website are devilishly hard to find. Then after you find them, the “upgrade” and “download” links lead to 404Land. <br />
I next wasted an hour at the Samsung site. Resorting to search engines was useless.<br />
In the meanwhile, my phone:<br />
<ul><li>hangs me up right after I dial a call</li>
<li>goes black in the middle of every act I perform on it</li>
<li>never alerts me when I receive calls or messages</li>
<li>dies halfway through the day</li>
<li>I am just getting started…</li>
</ul>I am considering my next move. <br />
Suggestions are welcome. </div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-66852522698213433412012-01-09T04:09:00.000-08:002012-01-09T04:09:45.535-08:00Another "Capitalism in Crisis" article<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fb95b4fe-3863-11e1-9d07-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1iu8jWtZP">Capitalism in Crisis: The Code That Forms a Bar to Harmony</a><br />
<br />
Financial Times<br />
<br />
My comment:<br />
<br />
I see nothing here that convinces me that anyone is willing to halt the corporate takeover of civil society. If it were true that cutting taxes created jobs, we should be rolling in them by now.<br />
<br />
In the USA, marginal rates have come down from their 91% high during the Eisenhower administration to 35% now for earned income. For capital gains the rates are even lower.<br />
<br />
An efficient market can never exist. Government policies inevitably and always redistribute income. Those of us in the 99% see clearly that incomes have redistributed upward to ridiculous levels. No one can justify paying CEOs millions of dollars a year for eliminating jobs and concocting nefarious schemes for avoiding their obligation to society. Privatization is nothing more or less than the systematic looting of the public goods our parents and grandparents paid for with their tax dollars.<br />
<br />
We are mad as hell and we aren't going to take it any more. <br />
</div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-41672726654320550052012-01-08T21:07:00.000-08:002012-01-08T21:08:17.738-08:00America’s Unlevel Field-Krugman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">My comments on:</span><br />
<h1 class="articleHeadline" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.083em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/opinion/krugman-americas-unlevel-field.html">America’s Unlevel Field</a></span></nyt_headline></h1><h1 class="articleHeadline" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.083em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Paul Krugman</span></h1><span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Mitt is just regurgitating right-wing mythology that was discredited decades ago. The Right does not believe that it does anything to create a level playing field. That rhetoric is just pablum for the true-believers. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">You will notice that most Right-wingers cannot have a rational discussion of the issues because everything they say is nothing more than a parroting of talking points. You can never have a conversation with them. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">There seems to be a mistaken notion that memorizing some batty phrases is the same as thoughtful discourse.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">There seems to be another mistaken notion that you have to have some kind of blind allegiance to your political party. This blind allegiance means that you are moral because you don't need any proof of their true intent. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Religious people claim not to require proof for their faith. Fine.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fffdef; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">But politics is not religion. You can change your opinions based on facts and logic and still not condemn yourself to eternal damnation. I did. You can do it too.</span> </div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-28187237087124428952012-01-06T08:48:00.000-08:002012-01-08T22:02:05.367-08:00Bailouts will always be needed to fix capitalism's flaws<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/01/06/romney-is-utterly-wrong-to-oppose-the-auto-bailout/#axzz1igheEURo">Romney is wrong to oppose auto bailout</a><br />
<br />
Really? <a href="http://stevenrattner.com/">Steven Rattner</a>, Obama's "car czar" administered the auto firm bailouts. Rattner is telling the truth.<br />
<br />
<i>See the comments! Holy cow!</i><br />
<blockquote><i>This is one of the most appaling (sic) pieces I've ever read.</i></blockquote><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="entry-category" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/category/america/" rel="category tag" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts in America">America</a> • <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/category/business/" rel="category tag" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts in Business">Business</a><br />
<br />
</div><div class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Bail-outs will always be needed to fix capitalism’s flaws<br />
<br />
</div><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white;"><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Lest we needed another reminder, <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/775d291e-3779-11e1-a5e0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ifZtlEnf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="FT - Fiat boosts stake in Chrysler to 58%">Thursday’s announcement</a> that the Italian automaker Fiat had achieved the final performance target in its alliance with Chrysler underscored once more the remarkable success of the rescue of the American automobile industry.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">No capitalist (and I consider myself to be a full-throated one) likes the notion of government intervening in the private sector. But we must recognise the rare moments when deviations from this principle are not only to be tolerated, but welcomed.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As the events of the past three years demonstrate, General Motors and Chrysler were such an undeniable exception. At the end of 2008, the entire auto sector was on the brink of total collapse, a near casualty of the financial crisis, oscillating oil prices, uneconomic labour agreements and poor management. General Motors alone <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e8129cde-2d04-11de-8710-00144feabdc0.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="FT - Markets on alert for GM bankruptcy">lost $30bn in that single year</a>.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Due to courageous decisions by both former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0996bd7c-36f3-11e1-96bf-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1ifZtlEnf" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #2e6e9e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="FT - US car market rebounds sharply">the industry is now thriving</a>. US sales of autos and light trucks rose last year by 10.3 per cent to 12.8m, compared to 10.4m in 2009.</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Read the original entire article here: </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/01/06/romney-is-utterly-wrong-to-oppose-the-auto-bailout/#axzz1igheEURo"></a></span></span><br />
<a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-a-list/2012/01/06/romney-is-utterly-wrong-to-oppose-the-auto-bailout/#axzz1igheEURo"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Romney is wrong to oppose auto bailout</span></span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div></div></div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-54483875709724952982012-01-04T12:30:00.000-08:002012-01-04T12:31:49.667-08:00Republican Attacks Have Racist Undertones - NYTimes.com<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/nobody-likes-to-talk-about-it-but-its-there/">Republican Attacks Have Racist Undertones - NYTimes.com</a>:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a><br />
<div><br />
</div><div>Many commenters are working really hard to deny the hard evidence of race-hate in the Republican Party. My right-wing relatives send me malicious mendacious racist smears all the time. </div><div>The most recent was a rant based on a fictional incident claiming Obama had done something that did not "support the troops." It was headed:</div><div><br />
</div><div>What do we have to do to get this n***** out of office?<br />
<br />
</div><div>In case you don't yet get it, people find this term derogatory dehumanizing racism. </div></div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-46067433770705803782011-12-28T22:44:00.000-08:002011-12-28T22:44:04.110-08:00Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed<br />
The link does not work. I retrieved a cached page of this post <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.ariseindiaforum.org/nurse-reveals-the-top-5-regrets-people-make-on-their-deathbed/">here. </a><br />
<br />
Apparently it came from the site www.ariseindiaforum.org. _ed.<br />
<br />
Submitted by admin on December 22, 2011 – 10:11 AMNo Comment | 3,302 views<br />
<br />
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.<br />
I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.<br />
<br />
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:<br />
<br />
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.<br />
This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.<br />
<br />
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.<br />
<br />
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.<br />
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.<br />
<br />
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.<br />
<br />
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.<br />
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never<br />
became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a<br />
result.<br />
<br />
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.<br />
<br />
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.<br />
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.<br />
<br />
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical<br />
details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end.<br />
That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.<br />
<br />
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.<br />
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again. When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.<br />
<br />
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.<br />
<br />
Source: Received via Email</div>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-11876000118431962412011-12-28T20:43:00.000-08:002011-12-28T20:44:57.476-08:00How Law School Was For Me: Chapter 1You asked how law school was for me. Law school was bad for me. When I came out I felt as though my brain was a hard drive that had been reformatted with errors. <br />
<br />
Here's a taste of the first part of my law school tale. <br />
<br />
During my first quarter at UCSB, my Labor History Prof. Antonio Zaragosa encouraged me to consider law school. I dismissed the idea for months. Then I spent 2 years researching the topic before I committed. <br />
<br />
I took an LSAT prep course, but I had too many other things going my last quarter at UCSB to give it my full attention. I couldn't get the games part. My score on reading comprehension and analysis was good enough to get me into Hastings, along with my academic and service record. I got a "try next year" from Boalt Hall, but my 1L grades were so embarrassing I did not apply. <br />
<br />
I was honored to be accepted to UC Hastings College of the Law. My life changed forever there. <br />
<br />
At Hastings, they do not teach us that we need the blackletter law. I suppose that warning is for the memorizers. I am sure that many of your classmates were memorizers too. I can memorize lines for a play, but apparently cannot memorize the law. Before I applied, I asked specifically if one had to be a good memorizer before I made the decision to study law. <br />
<br />
I asked again about memorization during the first week at Orientation. I was again told that it was OK that I was not a memorizer. I challenged the head of the LEOP Program about her comment at the end of the first year. She said, "Oh, I said that for the memorizers." <br />
<br />
So for the next two years, I tried to memorize stuff. But I couldn't even stay awake in class 1/4 of the time the first year. I had a sleeping disorder. After three months into my first semester, visits to psychiatrists, and sleeping pills, I thought that it might be the noise in the Tenderloin, so I went to Fox Hardware and bought a white sound machine around Nov. 1. For the first time since August, I could sleep for more than four hours. It was great! <br />
<br />
On Nov. 30 I fell and broke my leg. I cracked my kneecap and chipped the top of my tibia. I could not put any weight on the leg for two months, and crutches were not an alternative when carrying 100 lbs. of books and computer. Hastings's handicapped access elevator was broken and not repaired until my 3L year. <br />
<br />
So I was in a wheelchair for the finals study period AND finals. <br />
<br />
Near the end of my second semester, my apartment caught fire and was uninhabitable for a month. <br />
<br />
So far, so good.Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-15653454142659968582011-12-25T22:10:00.000-08:002011-12-25T22:10:06.318-08:00women who give too much: notes<ul><li> <p>Friend: I see me too. In addition I noticed her guilt came from not rescuing (fixing) her brother. I actually have been labeled "the fixer" because I always fix problems (or at least try) for everyone -Gosh are we all crazy? My New Years resolution is not to "fix" anything that isn't my problem. I'm tired of it all. </p><li> <p>Me: On the morning of my law school graduation, I was finishing the last of 120 Public Interest graduation sashes for the honorees. I sewed them all myself. Lilian helped me cut them out. I sewed them because I thought that they were too expensive. I didn't see the school giving us funding for them. Hastings has not had them since. So I was right, but in the long run, what diff did it make? <p><abbr>about an hour ago</abbr> · Like</p><li> <br />
<p>Friend: scary, we take different paths and still end up the same place. this really is a bad habit that i, at least, must break. I think that every time i feel the urge to step in and fix or give, i'm going have a brownie. i will be fatter (oh well) but happier i think. hope you have a lovely Christmas. be good to yourself. <p><abbr>37 minutes ago</abbr> · Like</p></li><br />
</ul>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-46976480129695901882011-12-21T12:41:00.000-08:002011-12-21T12:41:09.555-08:00Look out on the Right: Home-grown terror<a href="http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/751594/right-wing_mlk_parade_bomber_gets_sentenced_for_terrorism_that_no_one_wants_to_call_terrorism/comments/">http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/751594/right-wing_mlk_parade_bomber_gets_sentenced_for_terrorism_that_no_one_wants_to_call_terrorism/comments/</a>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-67149581034589816292011-12-20T01:36:00.000-08:002011-12-20T02:43:20.356-08:00Paul Krugman: Quote of the Day -- "Will China Break?"WAIT, IT GETS BETTER!<br />
<blockquote>All economic statistics are best seen as a peculiarly boring form of science fiction, but China’s numbers are more fictional than most.</blockquote><blockquote>I hope that I’m being needlessly alarmist here. But it’s impossible not to be worried: China’s story just sounds too much like the crack-ups we’ve already seen elsewhere. And a world economy already suffering from the mess in Europe really, really doesn’t need a new epicenter of crisis.</blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/opinion/krugman-will-china-break.html">Will China Break?</a><br />
<br />
By PAUL KRUGMAN<br />
Consider the following picture: Recent growth has relied on a huge construction boom fueled by surging real estate prices, and exhibiting all the classic signs of a bubble. There was rapid growth in credit — with much of that growth taking place not through traditional banking but rather through unregulated “shadow banking” neither subject to government supervision nor backed by government guarantees. Now the bubble is bursting — and there are real reasons to fear financial and economic crisis.<br />
<br />
Am I describing Japan at the end of the 1980s? Or am I describing America in 2007? I could be. But right now I’m talking about China, which is emerging as another danger spot in a world economy that really, really doesn’t need this right now.<br />
<br />
I’ve been reluctant to weigh in on the Chinese situation, in part because it’s so hard to know what’s really happening. All economic statistics are best seen as a peculiarly boring form of science fiction, but China’s numbers are more fictional than most. I’d turn to real China experts for guidance, but no two experts seem to be telling the same story.<br />
<br />
Still, even the official data are troubling — and recent news is sufficiently dramatic to ring alarm bells.<br />
<br />
The most striking thing about the Chinese economy over the past decade was the way household consumption, although rising, lagged behind overall growth. At this point consumer spending is only about 35 percent of G.D.P., about half the level in the United States.<br />
<br />
So who’s buying the goods and services China produces? Part of the answer is, well, we are: as the consumer share of the economy declined, China increasingly relied on trade surpluses to keep manufacturing afloat. But the bigger story from China’s point of view is investment spending, which has soared to almost half of G.D.P.<br />
<br />
The obvious question is, with consumer demand relatively weak, what motivated all that investment? And the answer, to an important extent, is that it depended on an ever-inflating real estate bubble. Real estate investment has roughly doubled as a share of G.D.P. since 2000, accounting directly for more than half of the overall rise in investment. And surely much of the rest of the increase was from firms expanding to sell to the burgeoning construction industry.<br />
<br />
Do we actually know that real estate was a bubble? It exhibited all the signs: not just rising prices, but also the kind of speculative fever all too familiar from our own experiences just a few years back — think coastal Florida.<br />
<br />
And there was another parallel with U.S. experience: as credit boomed, much of it came not from banks but from an unsupervised, unprotected shadow banking system. There were huge differences in detail: shadow banking American style tended to involve prestigious Wall Street firms and complex financial instruments, while the Chinese version tends to run through underground banks and even pawnshops. Yet the consequences were similar: in China as in America a few years ago, the financial system may be much more vulnerable than data on conventional banking reveal.<br />
<br />
Now the bubble is visibly bursting. How much damage will it do to the Chinese economy — and the world?<br />
<br />
Some commentators say not to worry, that China has strong, smart leaders who will do whatever is necessary to cope with a downturn. Implied though not often stated is the thought that China can do what it takes because it doesn’t have to worry about democratic niceties.<br />
<br />
To me, however, these sound like famous last words. After all, I remember very well getting similar assurances about Japan in the 1980s, where the brilliant bureaucrats at the Ministry of Finance supposedly had everything under control. And later, there were assurances that America would never, ever, repeat the mistakes that led to Japan’s lost decade — when we are, in reality, doing even worse than Japan did.<br />
<br />
For what it’s worth, statements about economic policy from Chinese officials don’t strike me as being especially clear-headed. In particular, the way China has been lashing out at foreigners — among other things, imposing a punitive tariff on imports of U.S.-made autos that will do nothing to help its economy but will help poison trade relations — does not sound like a mature government that knows what it’s doing.<br />
<br />
And anecdotal evidence suggests that while China’s government may not be constrained by rule of law, it is constrained by pervasive corruption, which means that what actually happens at the local level may bear little resemblance to what is ordered in Beijing.<br />
<br />
I hope that I’m being needlessly alarmist here. But it’s impossible not to be worried: China’s story just sounds too much like the crack-ups we’ve already seen elsewhere. And a world economy already suffering from the mess in Europe really, really doesn’t need a new epicenter of crisis.Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-32122833952083640342011-12-19T22:44:00.000-08:002011-12-19T22:44:56.178-08:00The bat-shoot crazy GOP<blockquote>The other problem is the Dem Party itself. We have many Dems, a few recently voted into office, who also agree on the conservative/business side. I swear the former GOP candidates that do not want to be known as part of the "bat-s*** crazy" GOP, so they sign up, and run as Democrats.</blockquote><br />
<a href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/in-connecticut-democrats-turn-cold-shoulder-on-problematic-female-candidate.php">Connecticut Democrats Turn Cold Shoulder on Problematic Candidate</a>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-41995650004771263612011-12-19T22:06:00.000-08:002011-12-19T22:07:39.144-08:00How Ayn Rand Seduced Generations of Young Men and Helped Make the U.S. Into a Selfish, Greedy Nation<blockquote><a href="http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/153454">http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/153454</a></blockquote><br />
By Bruce E. Levine, AlterNet<br />
Posted on December 15, 2011, Printed on December 19, 2011<br />
<br />
Ayn Rand’s “philosophy” is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society....To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.— Gore Vidal, 1961<br />
<br />
Only rarely in U.S. history do writers transform us to become a more caring or less caring nation. In the 1850s, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was a strong force in making the United States a more humane nation, one that would abolish slavery of African Americans. A century later, Ayn Rand (1905-1982) helped make the United States into one of the most uncaring nations in the industrialized world, a neo-Dickensian society where healthcare is only for those who can afford it, and where young people are coerced into huge student-loan debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.<br />
<br />
Rand’s impact has been widespread and deep. At the iceberg’s visible tip is the influence she’s had over major political figures who have shaped American society. In the 1950s, Ayn Rand read aloud drafts of what was later to become Atlas Shrugged to her “Collective,” Rand’s ironic nickname for her inner circle of young individualists, which included Alan Greenspan, who would serve as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board from 1987 to 2006.<br />
<br />
In 1966, Ronald Reagan wrote in a personal letter, “Am an admirer of Ayn Rand.” Today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) credits Rand for inspiring him to go into politics, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) calls Atlas Shrugged his “foundation book.” Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) says Ayn Rand had a major influence on him, and his son Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is an even bigger fan. A short list of other Rand fans includes Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; Christopher Cox, chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission in George W. Bush’s second administration; and former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.<br />
<br />
But Rand’s impact on U.S. society and culture goes even deeper.<br />
<br />
The Seduction of Nathan Blumenthal<br />
<br />
Ayn Rand’s books such as The Virtue of Selfishness and her philosophy that celebrates self-interest and disdains altruism may well be, as Vidal assessed, “nearly perfect in its immorality.” But is Vidal right about evil? Charles Manson, who himself did not kill anyone, is the personification of evil for many of us because of his psychological success at exploiting the vulnerabilities of young people and seducing them to murder. What should we call Ayn Rand’s psychological ability to exploit the vulnerabilities of millions of young people so as to influence them not to care about anyone besides themselves?<br />
<br />
While Greenspan (tagged “A.G.” by Rand) was the most famous name that would emerge from Rand’s Collective, the second most well-known name to emerge from the Collective was Nathaniel Branden, psychotherapist, author and “self-esteem” advocate. Before he was Nathaniel Branden, he was Nathan Blumenthal, a 14-year-old who read Rand’s The Fountainhead again and again. He later would say, “I felt hypnotized.” He describes how Rand gave him a sense that he could be powerful, that he could be a hero. He wrote one letter to his idol Rand, then a second. To his amazement, she telephoned him, and at age 20, Nathan received an invitation to Ayn Rand’s home. Shortly after, Nathan Blumenthal announced to the world that he was incorporating Rand in his new name: Nathaniel Branden. And in 1955, with Rand approaching her 50th birthday and Branden his 25th, and both in dissatisfying marriages, Ayn bedded Nathaniel.<br />
<br />
What followed sounds straight out of Hollywood, but Rand was straight out of Hollywood, having worked for Cecil B. DeMille. Rand convened a meeting with Nathaniel, his wife Barbara (also a Collective member), and Rand’s own husband Frank. To Branden's astonishment, Rand convinced both spouses that a time-structured affair—she and Branden were to have one afternoon and one evening a week together—was “reasonable.” Within the Collective, Rand is purported to have never lost an argument. On his trysts at Rand’s New York City apartment, Branden would sometimes shake hands with Frank before he exited. Later, all discovered that Rand’s sweet but passive husband would leave for a bar, where he began his self-destructive affair with alcohol.<br />
<br />
By 1964, the 34-year-old Nathaniel Branden had grown tired of the now 59-year-old Ayn Rand. Still sexually dissatisfied in his marriage to Barbara and afraid to end his affair with Rand, Branden began sleeping with a married 24-year-old model, Patrecia Scott. Rand, now “the woman scorned,” called Branden to appear before the Collective, whose nickname had by now lost its irony for both Barbara and Branden. Rand’s justice was swift. She humiliated Branden and then put a curse on him: “If you have one ounce of morality left in you, an ounce of psychological health—you'll be impotent for the next twenty years! And if you achieve potency sooner, you'll know it’s a sign of still worse moral degradation!”<br />
<br />
Rand completed the evening with two welt-producing slaps across Branden’s face. Finally, in a move that Stalin and Hitler would have admired, Rand also expelled poor Barbara from the Collective, declaring her treasonous because Barbara, preoccupied by her own extramarital affair, had neglected to fill Rand in soon enough on Branden's extra-extra-marital betrayal. (If anyone doubts Alan Greenspan’s political savvy, keep in mind that he somehow stayed in Rand’s good graces even though he, fixed up by Branden with Patrecia’s twin sister, had double-dated with the outlaws.)<br />
<br />
After being banished by Rand, Nathaniel Branden was worried that he might be assassinated by other members of the Collective, so he moved from New York to Los Angeles, where Rand fans were less fanatical. Branden established a lucrative psychotherapy practice and authored approximately 20 books, 10 of them with either “Self” or “Self-Esteem” in the title. Rand and Branden never reconciled, but he remains an admirer of her philosophy of self-interest.<br />
<br />
Ayn Rand’s personal life was consistent with her philosophy of not giving a shit about anybody but herself. Rand was an ardent two-pack-a-day smoker, and when questioned about the dangers of smoking, she loved to light up with a defiant flourish and then scold her young questioners on the “unscientific and irrational nature of the statistical evidence.” After an x-ray showed that she had lung cancer, Rand quit smoking and had surgery for her cancer. Collective members explained to her that many people still smoked because they respected her and her assessment of the evidence; and that since she no longer smoked, she ought to tell them. They told her that she needn’t mention her lung cancer, that she could simply say she had reconsidered the evidence. Rand refused.<br />
<br />
How Rand’s Philosophy Seduced Young Minds<br />
<br />
When I was a kid, my reading included comic books and Rand’s The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. There wasn’t much difference between the comic books and Rand’s novels in terms of the simplicity of the heroes. What was different was that unlike Superman or Batman, Rand made selfishness heroic, and she made caring about others weakness.<br />
<br />
Rand said, “Capitalism and altruism are incompatible....The choice is clear-cut: either a new morality of rational self-interest, with its consequences of freedom, justice, progress and man’s happiness on earth—or the primordial morality of altruism, with its consequences of slavery, brute force, stagnant terror and sacrificial furnaces.” For many young people, hearing that it is “moral” to care only about oneself can be intoxicating, and some get addicted to this idea for life.<br />
<br />
I have known several people, professionally and socially, whose lives have been changed by those close to them who became infatuated with Ayn Rand. A common theme is something like this: “My ex-husband wasn’t a bad guy until he started reading Ayn Rand. Then he became a completely selfish jerk who destroyed our family, and our children no longer even talk to him.”<br />
<br />
To wow her young admirers, Rand would often tell a story of how a smart-aleck book salesman had once challenged her to explain her philosophy while standing on one leg. She replied: “Metaphysics—objective reality. Epistemology—reason. Ethics—self-interest. Politics—capitalism.” How did that philosophy capture young minds?<br />
<br />
Metaphysics—objective reality. Rand offered a narcotic for confused young people: complete certainty and a relief from their anxiety. Rand believed that an “objective reality” existed, and she knew exactly what that objective reality was. It included skyscrapers, industries, railroads, and ideas—at least her ideas. Rand’s objective reality did not include anxiety or sadness. Nor did it include much humor, at least the kind where one pokes fun at oneself. Rand assured her Collective that objective reality did not include Beethoven’s, Rembrandt’s, and Shakespeare’s realities—they were too gloomy and too tragic, basically buzzkillers. Rand preferred Mickey Spillane and, towards the end of her life, “Charlie's Angels.”<br />
<br />
Epistemology—reason. Rand’s kind of reason was a “cool-tool” to control the universe. Rand demonized Plato, and her youthful Collective members were taught to despise him. If Rand really believed that the Socratic Method described by Plato of discovering accurate definitions and clear thinking did not qualify as “reason,” why then did she regularly attempt it with her Collective? Also oddly, while Rand mocked dark moods and despair, her “reasoning” directed that Collective members should admire Dostoyevsky, whose novels are filled with dark moods and despair. A demagogue, in addition to hypnotic glibness, must also be intellectually inconsistent, sometimes boldly so. This eliminates challenges to authority by weeding out clear-thinking young people from the flock.<br />
<br />
Ethics—self-interest. For Rand, all altruists were manipulators. What could be more seductive to kids who discerned the motives of martyr parents, Christian missionaries and U.S. foreign aiders? Her champions, Nathaniel Branden still among them, feel that Rand’s view of “self-interest” has been horribly misrepresented. For them, self-interest is her hero architect Howard Roark turning down a commission because he couldn’t do it exactly his way. Some of Rand’s novel heroes did have integrity, however, for Rand there is no struggle to discover the distinction between true integrity and childish vanity. Rand’s integrity was her vanity, and it consisted of getting as much money and control as possible, copulating with whomever she wanted regardless of who would get hurt, and her always being right. To equate one’s selfishness, vanity, and egotism with one’s integrity liberates young people from the struggle to distinguish integrity from selfishness, vanity, and egotism.<br />
<br />
Politics—capitalism. While Rand often disparaged Soviet totalitarian collectivism, she had little to say about corporate totalitarian collectivism, as she conveniently neglected the reality that giant U.S. corporations, like the Soviet Union, do not exactly celebrate individualism, freedom, or courage. Rand was clever and hypocritical enough to know that you don’t get rich in the United States talking about compliance and conformity within corporate America. Rather, Rand gave lectures titled: “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business.” So, young careerist corporatists could embrace Rand’s self-styled “radical capitalism” and feel radical — radical without risk.<br />
<br />
Rand’s Legacy<br />
<br />
In recent years, we have entered a phase where it is apparently okay for major political figures to publicly embrace Rand despite her contempt for Christianity. In contrast, during Ayn Rand’s life, her philosophy that celebrated self-interest was a private pleasure for the 1 percent but she was a public embarrassment for them. They used her books to congratulate themselves on the morality of their selfishness, but they publicly steered clear of Rand because of her views on religion and God. Rand, for example, had stated on national television, “I am against God. I don’t approve of religion. It is a sign of a psychological weakness. I regard it as an evil.”<br />
<br />
Actually, again inconsistent, Rand did have a God. It was herself. She said:<br />
<br />
I am done with the monster of “we,” the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: “I.”<br />
<br />
While Harriet Beecher Stowe shamed Americans about the United State’s dehumanization of African Americans and slavery, Ayn Rand removed Americans’ guilt for being selfish and uncaring about anyone except themselves. Not only did Rand make it “moral” for the wealthy not to pay their fair share of taxes, she “liberated” millions of other Americans from caring about the suffering of others, even the suffering of their own children.<br />
<br />
The good news is that I’ve seen ex-Rand fans grasp the damage that Rand’s philosophy has done to their lives and to then exorcize it from their psyche. Can the United States as a nation do the same thing?<br />
<br />
>Bruce E. Levine is a clinical psychologist and author of Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite (Chelsea Green, 2011). His Web site is www.brucelevine.net.<br />
<br />
© 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.<br />
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/153454/Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-3939074583316748662011-12-19T20:56:00.000-08:002011-12-19T20:56:00.624-08:00Problem Solved: You're Welcome!Among the many horrors of war are the social imbalances that follow. These imbalances threaten the stability of society. Social engineering plays a part as well in this global tragedy of errors. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
December 19, 2011, 9:21 AM<br />
<a href="http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/the-plight-of-chinas-favored-sons/">The Plight of China’s Favored Sons</a><br />
By ALEXANDRA HARNEY<br />
ZHUHAI, China — In the rural Chinese town where Li Yiming grew up, the gossip mill starts to turn if a man is still single at 25. As he nears this milestone, the 23-year-old Li, an assembly-line worker in the coastal city of Zhuhai, is despondent. He knows he’ll never earn enough at any factory to win the approval of his girlfriend’s parents.<br />
<br />
<br />
Associated Press<br />
Finding a spouse isn’t easy anywhere. But Li (whose name has been changed) is part of a cohort of millions of Chinese men, the favored sons, whose chances of ever getting married are particularly slim. After a rapid decline in fertility rates and decades of sex-selective abortions, there are now many more potential grooms than brides in China. This “marriage squeeze,” as demographers call the imbalance, is not a historical first — Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea have all had trouble marrying off their men — but in China it may be unprecedented in scale.<br />
<br />
According to Dudley Poston, a professor of sociology at Texas A&M University, and his colleagues, 40 million Chinese men alive today will likely be left without a wife. That’s more people than the population of California.<br />
<br />
Uneducated men from the countryside like Li have the worst prospects because many marriages in rural China are local. Traditional family ties often mean that the first choice for a spouse is someone from the same town. But sex ratios at birth (S.R.B.) — the ratio of boys born to girls — are generally much higher in the countryside than in the cities. And so the market dynamics of marriage for men in rural areas are much worse than in the cities.<br />
<br />
Demographers consider a natural S.R.B. to be between 104 and 107 boys born for every 100 girls. Nationally, China’s sex ratio at birth is 120 boys per 100 girls; in rural areas, where couples often have more than one child, the S.R.B. for second children rises to 145 (and in nine provinces, it’s a staggering 160, according to Poston). By comparison, the U.S. sex ratio at birth is 105 boys per 100 girls. The main reason for this gap is the use of ultrasound scanners to determine the gender of fetuses, followed by the abortion of many female ones.<br />
<br />
The other reason Li will have a hard time finding a wife is the “no money, no honey” dynamic. Chinese brides and their parents prefer men with the highest possible income, in particular those who own property. A recent study by the China Youth Daily found that 35 percent of women of marrying age would not consider tying the knot with a man who didn’t own property or who couldn’t afford to buy some. Li earns about $3,400 a year and his girlfriend’s parents expect him to buy an apartment that costs about $47,000.<br />
<br />
What will happen if so many Chinese men never get married? Wei Shang-jin, of Columbia University, and Zhang Xiaobo, of the International Food Policy Research Institute, predict that China’s marriage squeeze could stimulate economic growth by prodding men to work harder in order to woo a bride. But most projections are not so sanguine.<br />
<br />
Some observers predict that disgruntled bachelors like Li will go on strike to ask for more money or may resort to crime. Texas A&M’s Poston argues that cases of H.I.V. could rise as men congregate in “bachelor ghettos” in big cities. Others still warn that China may be more likely to go to war to keep its single men out of trouble at home.<br />
<br />
At a minimum, the marriage squeeze will widen various disparities in Chinese society today: between the rich and the poor, the cities and the countryside, those with property and those without. None of these is a good scenario for a Chinese government whose primary objective is stability.<br />
<br />
Alexandra Harney is the author of “The China Price” and an associate fellow at the Asia Society.Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-91288415609434005282011-12-19T19:16:00.000-08:002011-12-19T19:16:31.730-08:00Whatever happened to General McChrystal?My Financial Times headlines yielded this nugget of information.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Siemens hires former Afghanistan general<br />
German group acquires services of Stanley McChrystal with aim of bolstering US government business arm<br />
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/DWRBYN/KESL1U/QN1CFG/HY3AXQ/VU/h?a1=2011&a2=12&a3=19<br />
</blockquote>Further research demonstrated that he spent the first half of 2011 establishing <br />
<a href="http://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/team.php">The McChrystal Group</a>.Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-89441582506085065502011-12-18T00:14:00.000-08:002011-12-18T00:14:11.463-08:00Trickle-Down Economics - Cartoon by Clay Bennett // Current TV<a href="http://current.com/community/93501522_trickle-down-economics-cartoon-by-clay-bennett.htm">Trickle-Down Economics - Cartoon by Clay Bennett // Current TV</a>: <br><br><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5984110761683861405.post-3766563206945403802011-12-17T23:56:00.000-08:002011-12-18T00:00:44.028-08:00Political Washington Abolishes Due Process Protections<a href="www.Indybay.org">www.Indybay.org</a> is a local San Francisco Bay Area affiliate of <a href="www.Indymedia.org">www.Indymedia.org</a>, which was established originally to provide a web presence for the Seattle WTO Protests of 1999. Kindly take a moment to learn about Indymedia, where you may publish your text, audio and video right away. Your regional Indymedia site may be of value in the near future. You can even volunteer from your home if you wish to help keep it up. ~Via<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/17/18702934.php">http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/17/18702934.php</a><br />
<br />
tyranny<br />
Political Washington Abolishes Due Process Protections - by Stephen Lendman <br />
<br />
Main Street Europe and America face protracted Depression conditions. As a result, millions lost jobs, homes, incomes, and futures. <br />
<br />
Human misery is growing. So is public anger. Rage across America and Europe reflect it. Gerald Celente explains the stakes, saying: <br />
<br />
"When people lose everything and have nothing else to lose, they lose it." <br />
<br />
Draconian police state provisions were enacted to contain them. Hundreds of secret Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camps may hold them. Martial law may authorize it, claiming "catastrophic emergency" conditions. Senators blew their cover calling America a "battleground." <br />
<br />
During WW II, loyal Japanese Americans were lawlessly detained. Today, social justice protesters and others wanting change are at risk. Political Washington's targeting them to assure business as usual continues. Obama's fully on board. <br />
<br />
On December 14, the House passed the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). On December 15, the Senate followed suit - ironically on Bill of Rights Day. <br />
<br />
Obama will sign it into law. The measure ends constitutional protections for everyone, including US citizens. Specifically it targets due process and law enforcement powers. <br />
<br />
With or without evidence, on issues of alleged terrorist connections posing national security threats, the Pentagon now supplants civilian authorities. It's well beyond its mandate...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/12/17/18702934.php"><blockquote>READ IT ALL HERE></blockquote></a>Olivia LaRosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16478588278043360157noreply@blogger.com0