July 27, 2013

Mexicans outraged by humiliation of Indian boy

A 10-year-old Indian street vendor whose humiliation by a city inspector tugged on the heart strings of Mexicans after a video of it appeared on social media was showered Friday with attention and the offer of a scholarship.


The video shows the poor, sandal-clad Tzotzil boy selling candy, cough drops and apparently cigarettes out of a wicker basket in Villahermosa, the capital of the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. State officials say the boy, Manuel Diaz Hernandez, was trying to earn money to buy his own school supplies.


A city inspector, identified as Juan Diego Lopez, spots the boy, confronts him and takes several packs of cigarettes from his basket. It is prohibited in Mexico for minors to buy or sell cigarettes.


In the video, Manuel can be seen weeping inconsolably as the inspector forces him to take all the candy in his basket, handful by handful, and toss it on the pavement. The cost of the candy and cigarettes could well be more than the boy would earn with a week's work.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57595789/mexicans-outraged-by-humiliation-of-indian-boy/
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This is how the revolution in Tunisia started...

July 20, 2013

Maddie on Things: Talented shelter dog inspires photographer

When photographer Theron Humphrey realized that he wasn’t happy, he decided to do something about it. That something was a 365-day road trip to all 50 states where he’d meet a new person each day and photograph them. He called it “This Wild Idea.”

Before he set out, Humphrey adopted Maddie, a 45-pound coonhound from an Atlanta animal shelter, to be his road trip companion.

Just a few days into the trip though, he discovered that Maddie had a special talent: an amazing sense of balance.
...snip...
Humphrey says most of his Maddie photo shoots lasted no longer than 15 seconds. He’d find the location and check the lighting, and then he’d pose Maddie and instruct her to stay. Many dog treats were involved.

At the conclusion of the yearlong road trip, Humphrey turned Maddie’s photographs into a book titled “Maddie On Things.”

...
http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/photographer-finds-balance-with-talented-shelter-dog?hpt=hp_bn18

July 18, 2013

Dow, S&P 500 at record highs, up 19% in 2013

Source: CNN.com

Investors pushed the Dow and S&P 500 into record territory once again Thursday, as they welcomed a batch of strong earnings and a drop in jobless claims.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 78 points, or 0.5%, to end at a record closing high of 15,548.54. The S&P 500 also rose 0.6% and finished at a record closing high. Earlier, both indexes rose to fresh all-time trading highs.

While the Dow and S&P 500 gained traction, the Nasdaq lagged, gaining only a handful of points for the day. The tech-heavy index was weighed down by poor performing stocks like eBay and Intel.

Despite the minimal uptick, the Nasdaq still managed to close at its highest level since September 2000. All three indexes are up sharply for the year.





Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/18/investing/stocks-markets/index.html?iid=mkt_SF_news

July 18, 2013

Aaron Osmond, Utah State Senator, Calls For End To Mandatory Education

A Republican state senator in Utah is calling for the end of mandatory education in the state.

State Sen. Aaron Osmond (R-South Jordan) wrote on the state Senate blog Friday that mandatory education in the state has forced teachers and schools to take on parenting responsibilities. Prior to the mandate taking effect in 1890, he wrote, education was "an opportunity" and parents were more engaged. He also wrote that teachers were more respected. The Deseret News first reported Osmond's blog post on Tuesday.

Osmond is the nephew of entertainers Donny and Marie Osmond. His father, Virl, was not a member of The Osmonds.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/aaron-osmond-mandatory-education_n_3612150.html?ref=topbar

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Ah yes, we need to go back to 1890, for the sake of the children and the teachers. It's neanderthals like this that really make me miss EarlG's weekly "Top Ten Conservative Idiots" on the old DU.

July 11, 2013

State revenue beats estimates by $1.2 billion in June

The state collected about $1.2 billion more in tax revenue last month than Gov. Jerry Brown projected, ending the fiscal year about $2 billion ahead of expectations, the state controller reported today.

Controller John Chiang put tax revenue in June, the last month of the budget year, about 10 percent higher than Brown estimated the previous month, with revenue for the full year up about 2 percent.

"Rising employment, economic expansion and voter-approved tax increases have generated revenues outperforming even the rosiest of projections," Chiang said in a prepared statement. "However, California's history of boom or bust revenue cycles should be a cautionary tale that informs our spending decisions and incentivizes policymakers to prudently pay down accumulated debt."

Chiang said the state ended the fiscal year with a cash deficit of $2.4 billion - a deficit being covered by internal borrowing from special funds. The cash deficit was down from $9.6 billion at the end of 2011-12.

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/07/california-tax-revenue-beats-projections-chiang-says.html _____________________________

Another case of Democrats fixing what Republicans broke.

July 6, 2013

Moms ‘moo-ving’ on gun control push

Next week, members of MomsRising will go to Capitol Hill with their children dressed in cow costumes to deliver small cow toys to Senators with the message that they should not be “cowed” by the gun lobby and to get “moo-ving” on gun policy. Last February, they roamed the halls of the Hill with a children’s choir. For the July 4th holiday, another group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is marching in parades across the country.

“We have found that most politicians do listen when moms and children speak, and that they do take time out to hear the stories and to look at the messages,” Rowe-Finkbeiner said.

But it’s not just cute kids in cow costumes. These mothers groups are planning to have some serious political influence on the 2014 midterm elections, creating PACs, registering themselves as 501(c)4 organizations and running ads on the local level.

“We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the 2014 midterms, moms are so engaged in this they’re just not going away,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a group formed after December’s Newtown, Conn. shootings that killed 20 first graders and six adults.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/moms-gun-control-push-93739.html?hp=r12

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Sorry about the Politico link; couldn't find this story currently on another site.

July 6, 2013

Maddowblog: France's spying complaints suddenly appear 'somewhat hollow'

The timing could certainly be better. French President Francois Hollande has complained bitterly in recent days about U.S. international surveillance programs, concerns that were echoed as recently as yesterday by France's Interior Minister at a Fourth of July event hosted by the U.S. ambassador in Paris.

And yet, here we are.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/world/europe/france-too-is-collecting-data-newspaper-reveals.html

The New York Times report added that the revelations "appeared to make some of the French outrage about the revelations [about NSA spying] appear somewhat hollow."

You think?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/07/05/19303626-frances-spying-complaints-suddenly-appear-somewhat-hollow?lite