Bear State Dem
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A point of view by a Bear State Democrat.
Prison crisis on day one of new justice ministry
By Philip Johnston and Joshua Rozenberg
Last Updated: 1:02am BST 09/05/2007
Audio: Home Office a shadow of its former self
A prison overcrowding crisis is threatening to engulf the new Ministry of Justice, which starts work today, after the split of the Home Office.
Ministers have drawn up a package of emergency measures to ease the pressures - including the early release of non-violent inmates and fewer custodial terms for lesser offences.
Story: Link Read More »
By Philip Johnston and Joshua Rozenberg
Last Updated: 1:02am BST 09/05/2007
Audio: Home Office a shadow of its former self
A prison overcrowding crisis is threatening to engulf the new Ministry of Justice, which starts work today, after the split of the Home Office.
Ministers have drawn up a package of emergency measures to ease the pressures - including the early release of non-violent inmates and fewer custodial terms for lesser offences.
Story: Link Read More »
I read a quote sometime last year about the sons of great men. I'm not sure who to attribute it to and I haven't been able to find it on the Internet but the gist of it is simple enough. They never measure up.
I think that's probably true of George W. Bush, and a great many Americans as well. It takes a certain sort of man to convince a generation of Americans that any sacrifice is worth greatness. Is Tom Brokaw that man? I don't know. I haven't read his book, 'The Greatest Generation'. I don't plan to. On the face of it, Tom Brokaw is saying, basically, that the rest of us are doomed to obscurity. OR maybe he was saying something else. Maybe Mr. Brokaw was saying, the rest of you better do something great. I think that the Internet is a great thing. That counts. Read More »
I think that's probably true of George W. Bush, and a great many Americans as well. It takes a certain sort of man to convince a generation of Americans that any sacrifice is worth greatness. Is Tom Brokaw that man? I don't know. I haven't read his book, 'The Greatest Generation'. I don't plan to. On the face of it, Tom Brokaw is saying, basically, that the rest of us are doomed to obscurity. OR maybe he was saying something else. Maybe Mr. Brokaw was saying, the rest of you better do something great. I think that the Internet is a great thing. That counts. Read More »
Op-Ed: State of the Unions
This article is reprinted from The American Prospect.
"The New York Times recently reported that the earnings gap is now the widest since 1928, with the richest 1 percent of Americans having captured most of the economy's 2005 growth, and the bottom 90 percent getting nothing. Between 1979 and 2005, according to MIT professor Thomas Kochan, the productivity of American manufacturing rose by about 70 percent, but the real wages of production workers remained flat."
More: Link Read More »
This article is reprinted from The American Prospect.
"The New York Times recently reported that the earnings gap is now the widest since 1928, with the richest 1 percent of Americans having captured most of the economy's 2005 growth, and the bottom 90 percent getting nothing. Between 1979 and 2005, according to MIT professor Thomas Kochan, the productivity of American manufacturing rose by about 70 percent, but the real wages of production workers remained flat."
More: Link Read More »
Abraham Lincoln is, one may say, the Founder of the U.S. Republican Party. It was formed around his ideas, his candidacy, his election, and his Administration. The Republican Party is very proud of it’s Civil War heritage. All Americans living today should be proud of the outcome of the U.S. Civil War, as there is to my knowledge, not one living member of the army that fought left on either side. Read More »
The Bush Administration has received the wake-up and has mustered it's best defense against the withdrawal proviso, not necessarily the veto, but whatever it is that saps the will of the Senate not to rally around overriding that veto.
Will the Senate Democrats be able to accept their morning coffee without cream and sugar? Read More »
Will the Senate Democrats be able to accept their morning coffee without cream and sugar? Read More »
Perhaps we need to look again at our base and decide who it is, exactly, that we may be claiming to speak for. Read More »
EU agrees to deal with non-Hamas Palestinians
* EU foreign ministers voice full support for Arab plan
BREMEN: European Union foreign ministers backed an Arab peace initiative on Saturday and agreed to engage with ministers of the new Palestinian national unity government who are not members of the Islamist Hamas movement.
More: Link Read More »
* EU foreign ministers voice full support for Arab plan
BREMEN: European Union foreign ministers backed an Arab peace initiative on Saturday and agreed to engage with ministers of the new Palestinian national unity government who are not members of the Islamist Hamas movement.
More: Link Read More »
War efforts funded through July, analysis finds
from Dana Bash
CNN congressional correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new analysis of funding for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan concludes the Army could continue to wage war through July without additional funding from Congress.
The analysis may bolster Democrats in their increasingly contentious veto showdown with President Bush.
In a report prepared for the Senate Budget Committee, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said the Pentagon has flexibility to transfer money from elsewhere for "urgent requirements" and could finance the war with current appropriations "through most of July 2007."
More: Link Read More »
from Dana Bash
CNN congressional correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new analysis of funding for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan concludes the Army could continue to wage war through July without additional funding from Congress.
The analysis may bolster Democrats in their increasingly contentious veto showdown with President Bush.
In a report prepared for the Senate Budget Committee, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said the Pentagon has flexibility to transfer money from elsewhere for "urgent requirements" and could finance the war with current appropriations "through most of July 2007."
More: Link Read More »
“There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it, would be a most flagrant usurpation.”
-- James Madison Read More »
-- James Madison Read More »
The pressure within the White House is mounting. Faced with some hard choices to make, the Bush Administration may have to go deep to find a path out of the woods. Read More »
The opposite of "gentrification"; Disinvestment and the creation of deteriorated property caused by lower-income people slowly taking over and moving in to middle-class neighborhoods resulting in the flight of the former wealthier inhabitants.
In Detroit, a large proportion of ghettofied housing was originally built for middle and upper income occupants. As the process of ghettofication occurred this housing was increasingly occupied by lower income people. The ensuing disinvestment caused a spiral of decline in this former neighborhood of gentry as mansions were subdivided into several apartments with impoverished tenants. As ghettofication increased the houses were not maintained and blight engulfed the neighborhood.
-- the Urban Dictionary
In Detroit, a large proportion of ghettofied housing was originally built for middle and upper income occupants. As the process of ghettofication occurred this housing was increasingly occupied by lower income people. The ensuing disinvestment caused a spiral of decline in this former neighborhood of gentry as mansions were subdivided into several apartments with impoverished tenants. As ghettofication increased the houses were not maintained and blight engulfed the neighborhood.
-- the Urban Dictionary
If noise could fester and become a persistant irritant, tinnitus would be that noise, according to former Staff Sergeant Jean-Claud Wicks, Air Force jet mechanic. Read More »
“Today is a great day for justice.”
- Senator Mark Pryor, Senate Judiciary Committee
This is, what I hope, one of the opening acts in what I am going to refer to here as, “The Return Of The American Crimefighter”.
First, allow me to dispose of a red herring. Read More »
- Senator Mark Pryor, Senate Judiciary Committee
This is, what I hope, one of the opening acts in what I am going to refer to here as, “The Return Of The American Crimefighter”.
First, allow me to dispose of a red herring. Read More »
AP: Study Finds One-Third in D.C. Illiterate
WASHINGTON - About one-third of the people living in the national's capital are functionally illiterate, compared with about one-fifth nationally, according to a report on the District of Columbia.
Link Read More »
WASHINGTON - About one-third of the people living in the national's capital are functionally illiterate, compared with about one-fifth nationally, according to a report on the District of Columbia.
Link Read More »
'Faith-Based' Job Bias Should Not Be Injected Into Federally Funded Pre-School Program, Says AU's Lynn
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is urging Congress to block efforts to permit religious discrimination in hiring for Head Start programs. Read More »
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is urging Congress to block efforts to permit religious discrimination in hiring for Head Start programs. Read More »
This is a direct quote from Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff during a Senate Hearing on Islamic Radicalism. Secretary Chertoff went on to name the Internet as the number one route for indoctrination into Al Qaeda and related ideology. He also suggested White Supremist groups as the number two terror related threat to homeland security. Read More »
Does Attorney General Gonzales deserve a consolation prize? Read More »
There is a great problem facing our nation today. It is a problem facing all nations and peoples all through history. It is known as the 'Hobbesian Trap" and it stems from mistrust and fear. Read More »
These are the ideas I recommend. They are based on what I have learned, so far, listening to, watching and reading about the issue so far, and what I have learned about people from my own personal experience. Read More »
The latest public statement by Al Qaeda highlights the importance of stopping the escalation and drawing to a close our involvement in the Iraq Civil War. Read More »
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