October 14, 2014

NEW REPORT EXPOSES GOVS WHO HELPED CAMPAIGN DONORS, CORPORATIONS BOOST PROFITS AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE

No link. We got the pre-release because the DU rocks!


EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: October 15, 2014


** MEDIA ADVISORY **
New Report Exposes Governors who Helped Campaign Donors, Corporations Boost Profits at Taxpayer Expense
-- CMD report “Pay to Prey” reveals how governors in Florida, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin facilitated a corporate power grab of public services, shortchanging taxpayers and the public.

(Washington, DC) – On Wednesday, October 15, at 1:30 P.M. EDT, the Center for Media and Democracy will host a telebriefing to unveil its new report “Pay to Prey: Governors Facilitate the Predatory Outsourcing of Public Services”.

The report highlights the intensive efforts of governors across the country to privatize important public services to private firms with high-powered lobbyists and related campaign contributions. Time after time, outsourcing has gone awry, generating worse outcomes for the public, scandal, lawsuits, and scorching headlines. The report includes examples from Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Wisconsin.

Examples from the report include:

In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder outsourced prison food service to a previously rejected contractor after the company spent half a million on lobbying. The contract has been plagued by scandal, including maggots, employees smuggling drugs and having sex with inmates, and even murder-for-hire allegations.

In Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Corbett has outsourced millions in legal contracts to major campaign contributors to defend ALEC-style voter ID legislation and other policies. The governor is attempting to privatize liquor sales, which would benefit another set of deep-pocketed contributors.

In Florida, Governor Rick Scott has overseen a massive expansion of for-profit online schooling, to companies which spent millions on lobbying. Scott signed a bill requiring every student to take online courses and online tests benefiting firms like ALEC funder K12 Inc., which received failing grades from Florida’s Department of Education.


WHAT: Telebriefing to release “Pay to Prey: Governors Facilitate the Predatory Outsourcing of Public Services”

WHO:
Lisa Graves, Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy
Shar Habibi, Research and Policy Director, In the Public Interest
State Rep. Andrew J. Kandrevas (D-MI), Democratic Vice Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections
State Rep. Chris Taylor (D-WI), Member, Committee on Labor
State Rep. Janet Cruz (D-FL), Member, Appropriations Committee

WHEN: Wednesday, October 15, at 1:30 P.M. EDT

DIAL: 888.632.3384
Conference ID: “Pay to Prey”

October 3, 2014

REMEMBRANCE OF A LIFE LIVED by Robin Dorman (warning intense dog rescue in Korea)

http://www.idausa.org/remembrance-life-lived/





October 1st, 2014 by Robin Dorman

This is about love, loss, and a brave and beautiful dog with a nearly imperturbable calm who transfigured lives. It was this past January when we first spotted her lying on concrete, sprinkled with falling snow, in an area of the market that was strewn with garbage left to rot, as she was, possibly a day or two before she would have met her fate in the large vat right behind her, where during slaughter, dogs are thrown into boiling water. They are then dropped into a rotating drum, like the one located just above where she lay, for the removal of fur, and finally blowtorched, often while still alive, destined to be dog meat stew or “boshintang” or dog broth or “gaesoju” from a so-called health food store. She was motionless, her eyes staring out in a quiet despair, a sick dog’s look. We reached out to stroke her. Because she was not locked in a cage, we took off with her to Seoul Animal Medical Center, where Dr. Jeffrey Suh, surgical team leader, was waiting. It was after 2 a.m. and we were hoping for a miracle. We named the Jindo mix, Somang, meaning “wish” in Korean.

We didn’t know her past but callous desertion was evident, as she was indelibly marked by misfortune. Hit by a car, she was probably then dumped at Moran Market, South Korea’s largest distributor of dog meat for human consumption. If we hadn’t taken her, we have no idea how many days she would have lived, if one more day, either because of dehydration or because she would have been killed that morning. But we also entertained the idea that she was someone’s companion because of her astonishing gentleness and, therefore, could have been abducted or, because of the accident, suddenly abandoned. It’s anyone’s guess. But the decision to save her was an easy one. She wanted to live, despite being worn out by afflictions. She was a luminous presence everyone felt like a nimbus.

As Dr. Suh explained it, she was suffering from a fractured femur of the right hind limb, heartworm infection, mild dehydration, a mass on her mammary glands and on her vulvar area, endometrial hyperplasia on her uterus, weakened kidneys, and a cyst on her liver, but her blood work was normal, aside from malnutrition. She also had disc anomalies on multiple areas of her lower vertebrates but, again, there was no hampering her ability to walk.

The first order of business was diminishing the adverse effect of heartworm treatment, and allowing her time to recover from dehydration and malnutrition. On intravenous fluids, and gaining strength, her broken leg was amputated, and she recuperated beautifully. Ten days after surgery, she began her heartworm treatment, which can be very uncomfortable, but she handled it with her usual ease. She received three injections, a week apart, and an intravenous injection of a steroid and antihistamine to counter any unpleasant reaction. Befitting her personality, she took all of this in great stride, and made the hospital hers, strolling among the dogs and cats with that singular Somang affability, as sweet a dog the world has ever seen.

FULL story at link.

October 2, 2014

SHERLOCK HOLMES: 100-YEARS-LOST FILM FOUND AT CINÉMATHÈQUE FRANÇAISE

Source: Silent Film org

The silent film version of Sherlock Holmes starring William Gillette has been found! Long considered lost since its first release, the Gillette film is a vital missing link in the history of Holmes on screen. Directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by Essanay Studios in 1916, it was discovered at the Cinémathèque Française only a few weeks ago.

By the time the film was made, Gillette had been established as the world’s foremost interpreter of Holmes on stage. He gave his face and manner to the detective and inspired the classic illustrations of Frederic Dorr Steele. Dynamic but calm, he played Holmes in the colorful attire—bent-stemmed briar, ornate dressing gown, and deerstalker cap—that has been identified ever since with the character. Just as durable was Gillette’s distinctive bearing, preserved in the film: the charismatic, all-seeing detective who dominates scenes with his preternatural stillness.

Booth Tarkington famously wrote after seeing Gillette on stage, “I would rather see you play Sherlock Holmes than be a child again on Christmas morning.” For the well-known Chicago bookman, Vincent Starrett, Gillette was beyond criticism. But perhaps the most telling accolade came from Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who had killed Holmes off and thought he was through with the character. After reading Gillette’s adaptation for the stage, he said, “It’s good to see the old chap back.”

“Sir Arthur, you don’t know the half of it,” says Professor Russell Merritt, the supervising editor of the project and member of the Baker Street Irregulars. “At last we get to see for ourselves the actor who kept the first generation of Sherlockians spellbound. We can also see where the future Holmeses—Rathbone, Brett, Cumberbatch, and the rest—come from. As far as Holmes is concerned, there’s not an actor dead or alive who hasn’t consciously or intuitively played off Gillette.”

FULL story at link.




Read more: http://www.silentfilm.org/homepage/whats-new/lost-and-found