My 91-year-old Great Aunt was informed by our local Meals on Wheels that, because of the sequester, they are running out of food and once they run out, there will be no more food deliveries.

In order to qualify for the program you cannot have the ability to obtain/prepare food on your own. Now, I can easily provide for my aunt and ensure she gets good, nutritional meals but I have to wonder about those without family/friends to care for them. The numbers could be in the millions. How can this NOT have tragic consequences?

How is it that there seems to be all kinds of programs that have managed to get themselves exempted from the sequester yet Meals on Wheels gets the axe? There is no justification for this.

http://www1.whdh.com/video/7newslive

(Thanks to another DUer for the link -- can't remember who but you know who you are.)

So much of the time on DU too many condemn ALL LE officers because of the bad behavior of a few. I think this crisis has revealed the value of LE and their overall POSITIVE contribution to society. THIS is what the vast majority of police officers do -- their job.

Bravo for a job well done!

I worked the Census in 2009 and then again in 2010. Once my stint was up they mailed me an employment packet that basically made me go through the hiring/test process all over again in order to apply for a Field Representative position (they take surveys for different Fed. departments). I did all of that and, after 3-1/2 years of not hearing from them, had pretty much decided they weren't going to call me.

Out of the blue I get a phone call and the Census wants to do a phone interview. I had to jump through some extra hoops but I got the job! It's only a 6-month (or shorter) assignment and FAAAAAARRRRRR from the $125.00/hr. I used to make (sigh) but it's a job and I'm happy for it. I start April 22 with training in Sacramento.

Source: capital gazette

A tentative deal has been reached between agriculture workers and growers, a key senator said Tuesday, smoothing the way for a landmark immigration bill to be released within a week.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who's taken the lead on negotiating a resolution to the agriculture issue, didn't provide details, and said growers had yet to sign off on the agreement. The farm workers union has been at odds with the agriculture industry over worker wages and how many visas should be offered in a new program to bring agriculture workers to the U.S.

But Feinstein said she's hoping for resolution in the next day or two.

"There's a tentative agreement on a number of things, and we're waiting to see if it can get wrapped up," Feinstein said in a brief interview at the Capitol.

<more>

Read more: http://www.capitalgazette.com/wire/nation/senator-tentative-deal-on-immigration-ag-workers/article_99f42099-cac5-58fe-bf9c-cd5b1380f164.html

A week of political drama narrowed the candidate field to two front-runners in the race for the state's 16th Senate District: Bakersfield Democrat Leticia Perez and Hanford Republican Andy Vidak.

But they're not the only ones who will be competing in the May 21 special election.

Democrats Francisco Ramirez Jr. of Riverdale and Paulina Miranda of Fresno, and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Mohammad Arif of Bakersfield, also qualified for the ballot by Friday's filing deadline, according to election offices in Fresno and Kern counties.

The election is the result of former Sen. Michael Rubio's resignation last month. The Bakersfield Democrat took a job with Chevron.

<More>

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/03/29/3236427/states-16th-senate-district-field.html#storylink=misearch



I only know one of these candidates: Paulina Miranda. The local Democrats are NOT supporting her for good reason. I won't elaborate.

Narrated by Martin Sheen it's a story about a nun who went to Brazil to help the indigenous people there. She was killed for defending a project that was designed to give workers plots of land to work. The idea was to engage in sustainable farming in the Amazon that left 80% of the forest left untouched. On the other side are the very few, very rich (sound familiar?) ranchers who are destroying the rain forest for cheap grazing land for their cattle.

Overall it's amazing how much we have in common with the unrepresented peoples around the world who are being exploited because of greed. Just because we're in a First World country doesn't make the injustices any less heinous.

Anyway, I thought it was a fascinating documentary.