January 28, 2013

With Kathleen Wynne's victory in Ontario, six of Canada's 13 premiers are women

from CBC News:



The ascent of Kathleen Wynne to the premier’s office in Ontario is a victory for women in politics and an encouragement to coming generations considering political careers, a B.C. political scientist says.

Wynne was elected leader of Ontario’s ruling Liberal party Saturday, which means she will move into the premier’s office when Dalton McGuinty officially resigns in a few days.

That will make Wynne the sixth current female premier in Canada.

.......(snip).......

Wynne, also the only openly gay provincial leader, joins B.C.’s Christy Clark, Quebec's Pauline Marois, Alberta’s Alison Redford, Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut’s Eva Aariak as premiers. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/28/bc-female-premiers.html

January 28, 2013

Arizona backs off on oath that would deny atheists right to graduate

Arizona is now backing off on a controversial bill that would require public high school students to recite an oath pleading allegiance to the Constitution in order to graduate.

As worded now, the bill has language that would, in effect, deny atheists or students of different faiths the right to graduate.

House Bill 2467, sponsored by freshman Arizona State Representative Bob Thorpe (R), would require high school students to take an oath to defend and support the Constitution.

The critical phrase comes toward the end of the oath: “So help me God.” ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1321095--arizona-backs-off-on-oath-that-would-deny-atheists-right-to-graduate

January 28, 2013

Neoliberalism No More: Making Common Cause to Defeat the Harper Agenda

Published on Monday, January 28, 2013 by Rabble.ca
Neoliberalism No More: Making Common Cause to Defeat the Harper Agenda

by Archana Rampure


Stephen Harper has an agenda and it is all about turning Canada into a resource-extraction economy. He would like to make sure that nothing and no one stands in the way of exploiting the oil and the gas, the minerals and the water.

When Aboriginal people stand up for their rights and demand that they be consulted before natural resources are ripped out of the earth, the racist rhetoric begins to fly. When environmentalists suggest that this is a short-sighted, unsustainable and one-time-only plan, they are called radicals and terrorists. NGOs that network with the Global South peoples whose resources we exploit find themselves replaced by mining companies.

The list goes on: trade unions are demonized as big labour and compared to big corporations as though there is any real comparison between the power and influence wielded by corporations and that of the union movement. Aboriginal communities are abandoned by a Federal government which accuses their leaders of financial mismanagement.

These are the smoke-screens being put up to obscure a neo-liberal agenda that will brook no opposition. What I remember from my first anti-free trade protest more than a decade ago still rings true: deregulation, privatization and globalization is still the name of the game. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/28-10

January 28, 2013

The Shocking Ways California Catholic Church Officials Protected a Priest Who Molested 26 Kids

Ms. Magazine / By Stephanie Geske

The Shocking Ways California Catholic Church Officials Protected a Priest Who Molested 26 Kids
The priest preyed on immigrant children, threatening them with deportation.

January 28, 2013 |


Confidential letters between Los Angeles Catholic church officials that had been withheld for decades–despite long efforts by victims to obtain them and stonewalling by the Church–were released Monday after becoming part of a civil court case against a priest accused of molesting 26 Los Angeles children in the 1980s.

The notes from then-Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and Monsignor Thomas J. Curry, published by the Los Angeles Times, have provided even more insight as to how sexual- abuse accusations against priests have been covered up for years. The notes detail plans by the two men to keep police from discovering that children were being molested in Los Angeles parishes, with Curry suggesting the predator priestsnot see therapists who could then alert authorities; instead, he wanted to give priests out-of-state assignments to avoid criminal charges. Curry was the chief advisor to the Archbishop on sex-abuse cases at the time.

One priest discussed in the released files was Msgr. Peter Garcia, who tended to abuse undocumented children because he could keep them quiet by threatening to have them deported. He went to a treatment center for pedophile clergy in New Mexico, but left the priesthood in 1989 after returning to Los Angeles and refusing to take medication to contain his sexual urges toward children. Never prosecuted, he died in 2009.

Mahony’s own notes indicate that, while he was disturbed by the abuse and sent priests to treatment centers, he did little to investigate the priests or discover if there were additional victims. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/shocking-ways-california-catholic-church-officials-protected-priest-who-molested-26-kids

January 28, 2013

Armstrong Gear Goes on Closeout After Doping Confession

(Bloomberg) John Wilcockson, who has been to 44 consecutive Tours de France and wrote six books about Lance Armstrong’s victories, counts himself among those taken in by the confessed doping cheat.

His work culminated in the 2010 best seller, “Lance: The Making of the World’s Greatest Champion.” In it, Wilcockson recounted Armstrong’s life story, juxtaposing a tale of grit and perseverance with the doping allegations that had been swirling around the cyclist for a decade. The conclusion: Armstrong’s life was a triumph of training, strength and will.

Now Wilcockson, 69, and others in the far-flung world of Lance Inc. have to rebrand and retool, while reassessing a confessed serial cheater who helped them make a lot of money. From Armstrong-linked sportswear by Nike Inc. (NKE) to Armstrong- endorsed energy drinks and Armstrong-inspired private cycling trips to the Tour de France, purveyors of the shattered myth of Lance Armstrong are facing a reckoning of their own.

“I’ve been pretty depressed, having written such positive things,” said Wilcockson, who has known the 41-year-old Armstrong since the cyclist was 16. “Everyone accepted Lance was the champion. They didn’t question him because they benefited from his success. That’s how the big lie was perpetuated.” .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-28/armstrong-gear-goes-on-closeout-after-doping-confession.html

January 28, 2013

NC: New Walking Tour Will Highlight 'Streetcar Suburbs'

NC: New Walking Tour Will Highlight 'Streetcar Suburbs'

Juliane Bullard
Source: Star-News
Created: January 28, 2013


Wilmington residents and visitors will soon be able to travel to a time when streetcars covered downtown's landscape transporting residents from the close-by "suburbs" to their jobs on the railroad.

This spring the Historic Wilmington Foundation plans to launch a new "Streetcar Suburbs" walking tour which will explore the city's Carolina Heights and Carolina Place neighborhoods.

"The tour sprung from our desire to teach adults about a very historic district in Wilmington," said George Edwards, the foundation's executive director. "We wanted to create a fundraising effort and also stick to our mission statement of preservation and education."

As with the Azaela Festival walking tour of historic downtown houses, the Streetcar Suburbs tour will take participants into the houses of some residents, showcasing the historic restorations and architecture of them, and discussing each house's personal history. The volunteer guides will start groups off at the corner of 17th and Market streets and move toward Perry Avenue, pointing out historic structures along the way, including Kenan House, the official residence of the chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/10859643/nc-new-walking-tour-will-highlight-streetcar-suburbs

January 28, 2013

Chris Hedges: White Power to the Rescue

from truthdig:



White Power to the Rescue

Posted on Jan 28, 2013
By Chris Hedges


On a windy afternoon a few days ago I went to a depressed section of North Memphis to visit an old clapboard house that was once owned by a German immigrant named Jacob Burkle. Oral history—and oral history is all anyone has in this case since no written documents survive—holds that Burkle used his house as a stop on the underground railroad for escaped slaves in the decade before the Civil War. The house is now a small museum called Slave Haven. It has artifacts such as leg irons, iron collars and broadsheets advertising the sale of men, women and children. In the gray floor of the porch there is a trapdoor that leads to a long crawl space and a jagged hole in a brick cellar wall where fugitives could have pushed themselves down into the basement. Escaped slaves were purportedly guided by Burkle at night down a tunnel or trench toward the nearby Mississippi River and turned over to sympathetic river traders who took them north to Cairo, Ill., and on to freedom in Canada.

Burkle and his descendants had good reason to avoid written records and to keep their activities secret. Memphis, on the eve of the Civil War, was one of the biggest slave markets in the South. After the war the city was an epicenter for Ku Klux Klan terror that included lynching, the nighttime burning of black churches and schools and the killing of black leaders and their white supporters, atrocities that continued into the 20th century. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis in 1968. If word had gotten out that Burkle used his home to help slaves escape, the structure would almost certainly have been burned and Burkle or his descendants, at the very least, driven out of the city. The story of Burkle’s aid to slaves fleeing bondage became public knowledge only a couple of decades ago.

The modest public profile of the Burkle house stands in stunning contrast with the monument in the center of Memphis to native son Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest, who is buried in Forrest Park under a statue of himself in his Confederate general’s uniform and mounted on a horse, is one of the most odious figures in American history. A moody, barely literate, violent man—he was not averse to shooting his own troops if he deemed them to be cowards—he became a millionaire before the war as a slave trader. As a Confederate general he was noted for moronic aphorisms such as “War means fighting and fighting means killing.” He was, even by the accounts of those who served under him, a butcher. He led a massacre at Fort Pillow in Henning, Tenn., of some 300 black Union troops—who had surrendered and put down their weapons—as well as women and children who had sheltered in the fort. Forrest was, after the war, the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He used his skills as a former cavalry commander to lead armed night raids to terrorize blacks.

Forrest, like many other white racists of the antebellum South, is enjoying a disquieting renaissance. The Sons of Confederate Veterans and the West Tennessee Historical Commission last summer put up a 1,000-pound granite marker at the entrance to the park that read “Forrest Park.” The city, saying the groups had not obtained a permit, removed it with a crane. A dispute over the park name, now raging in the Memphis City Council, exposes the deep divide in Memphis and throughout much of the South between those who laud the Confederacy and those who detest it, a split that runs like a wide fault down racial lines. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/white_power_to_the_rescue_20130128/

January 28, 2013

Chris Hedges: White Power to the Rescue

from truthdig:



White Power to the Rescue

Posted on Jan 28, 2013
By Chris Hedges


On a windy afternoon a few days ago I went to a depressed section of North Memphis to visit an old clapboard house that was once owned by a German immigrant named Jacob Burkle. Oral history—and oral history is all anyone has in this case since no written documents survive—holds that Burkle used his house as a stop on the underground railroad for escaped slaves in the decade before the Civil War. The house is now a small museum called Slave Haven. It has artifacts such as leg irons, iron collars and broadsheets advertising the sale of men, women and children. In the gray floor of the porch there is a trapdoor that leads to a long crawl space and a jagged hole in a brick cellar wall where fugitives could have pushed themselves down into the basement. Escaped slaves were purportedly guided by Burkle at night down a tunnel or trench toward the nearby Mississippi River and turned over to sympathetic river traders who took them north to Cairo, Ill., and on to freedom in Canada.

Burkle and his descendants had good reason to avoid written records and to keep their activities secret. Memphis, on the eve of the Civil War, was one of the biggest slave markets in the South. After the war the city was an epicenter for Ku Klux Klan terror that included lynching, the nighttime burning of black churches and schools and the killing of black leaders and their white supporters, atrocities that continued into the 20th century. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis in 1968. If word had gotten out that Burkle used his home to help slaves escape, the structure would almost certainly have been burned and Burkle or his descendants, at the very least, driven out of the city. The story of Burkle’s aid to slaves fleeing bondage became public knowledge only a couple of decades ago.

The modest public profile of the Burkle house stands in stunning contrast with the monument in the center of Memphis to native son Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest, who is buried in Forrest Park under a statue of himself in his Confederate general’s uniform and mounted on a horse, is one of the most odious figures in American history. A moody, barely literate, violent man—he was not averse to shooting his own troops if he deemed them to be cowards—he became a millionaire before the war as a slave trader. As a Confederate general he was noted for moronic aphorisms such as “War means fighting and fighting means killing.” He was, even by the accounts of those who served under him, a butcher. He led a massacre at Fort Pillow in Henning, Tenn., of some 300 black Union troops—who had surrendered and put down their weapons—as well as women and children who had sheltered in the fort. Forrest was, after the war, the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He used his skills as a former cavalry commander to lead armed night raids to terrorize blacks.

Forrest, like many other white racists of the antebellum South, is enjoying a disquieting renaissance. The Sons of Confederate Veterans and the West Tennessee Historical Commission last summer put up a 1,000-pound granite marker at the entrance to the park that read “Forrest Park.” The city, saying the groups had not obtained a permit, removed it with a crane. A dispute over the park name, now raging in the Memphis City Council, exposes the deep divide in Memphis and throughout much of the South between those who laud the Confederacy and those who detest it, a split that runs like a wide fault down racial lines. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/white_power_to_the_rescue_20130128/

January 27, 2013

U.S. Income Inequality Worse Than Many Latin American Countries

from HuffPost:



Latin America has long been viewed as a region plagued by some of the worst wealth inequality in the world.

But in recent years, those figures have turned around, while in the United States income inequality is on the rise.

Adam Isacson, analyst for the Washington Office on Latin America, notes the change on his blog. According to recent figures on income published by the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the U.S. income gap now exceeds that of several countries in the Americas. As Isacson writes:





Uruguay -- whose famously humble president José “Pepe Mujica donates 90 percent of his salary to charity -- ranks as the most equitable country in Latin America, with the wealthiest 20 percent brining in 8 times more than the poorest 20 percent. Venezuela comes in at number two. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/us-income-inequality-wors_n_2561123.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

January 27, 2013

CVS certainly has expanded their product selection.....