dimblr.com Welcome Guest | Login or Register

Virtual slavery, beatings, forced prostitution (including child prostitution), forced abortions - these are all well known practices at the Saipan sweatshops that GOP senatorial candidate Bob Schaffer recently held up as a “model.”
In 2006, Bill Moyers produced the television program “Capitol Crimes,” a merciless look at the legalized bribery (lobbying) that had taken over U.S. Congress. He took a close look at the efforts by now-jailed superlobbyist Jack Abramoff and disgraced GOP house speaker Tom Delay to protect the owners of those sweatshops. Because the island is a U.S. Protectorate, the products coming out of those labor camps bore the “made in the USA” label, but U.S. law did not protect the workers there, and the GOP leadership wanted to make sure it stayed that way.
To see Moyers’ dissection of the GOP’s efforts to prevent the rescue of the workers, go to theprogram’s website and click on the “Watch Capitol Crimes” icon on the top right then select “Chapter 2″ in the page that pops up (there doesn’t seem to be a more direct link). The sweatshop coverage begins about 1/5 of the way in. A transcript of the showis available here - search for the text “Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands”.
Among the interesting connections Moyers explored was that during a junket to Saipan, Abramoff and then-House Speaker Tom DeLay were hosted at a party thrown by Willie Tan, a Chinese textile tycoon who had previously paid the largest labor fine in U.S. history - $9 million for sweatshop conditions in his factories. This connection is interesting because the Tan family and its allies also became good friends with Schaffer, giving him thousands of dollars for his ongoing senate campaign. Schaffer - who was then a congressman - made his junket to the islands in 1999. He took a few tours of hand-picked facilities escorted by the factory owners, then went parasailing. He returned to say the Saipan workers were “smiling” and “happy.”

denver.yourhub.com

Earlier today , ESPN reported that Oklahoma State would be willing to offer Kansas coach Bill Self $ 6 million - as a signing bonus . The figure itself is ridiculous , but even more silly is the fact that Oklahoma State unleashed this gem just hours from the biggest game of Self ‘ s coaching career . The nation ‘ s attention should be focused on two brilliant basketball teams playing at the height of their ability tonight . Unfortunately , the nation will be subjected to sideline reports and cut - ins reminding everyone that Boone Pickens is a very , very rich man .

blogs.cjonline.com

Western Kentucky coach Darrin Horn is leaving for South Carolina after the Hilltoppers’ best finish in the NCAA tournament in 15 years.
Horn told the school’s president Monday he had accepted an offer from the Gamecocks to replace Dave Odom, who retired at the end of the season, Western Kentucky University spokesman Bob Edwards said.
South Carolina athletic officials did not confirm Horn’s hiring, but university trustees plan to meet today to approve a new athletic contract. A news conference to announce a new coach for the Gamecocks has been scheduled for the afternoon.
Horn, 35, went 111-48 in five seasons at his alma mater. The Hilltoppers went 29-7 this season, winning the Sun Belt Conference title and advancing to the West Regional semifinals, where they lost to top-seeded UCLA 88-78.
It was Western Kentucky’s best season since making it to the regional semifinals in 1993.
Horn has three years remaining on his contract, which includes a buyout of $157,000 per year for each year bought out, as well as a provision that would require Horn’s new school to play four games against the Hilltoppers in the future.
South Carolina went 14-18 this season, including a 5-11 mark in the SEC.
The Gamecocks struggled in the SEC under Odom, going 128-104 overall and 41-71 in the SEC in his seven seasons at the school.
Vanderbilt Freshman Bell To Transfer: Freshman guard Keegan Bell will transfer from Vanderbilt when the spring semester ends.
“We support that decision 100 percent, and we wish him well,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said.
Bell, from Hazel Green, Ala., played in every game as a freshman, averaging 2.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists coming off the bench. The school provided no information on where Bell might transfer.
Wildcats’ Manager Dies: Kentucky basketball manager Bill Keightley, who was with the Wildcats for 48 seasons, died Monday in Cincinnati. He was 81.

govolsxtra.com

Steve Earle called them hard-core troubadours and thought he’d seen the last of ‘em.
The tough-as-a-mule Texas folk singer knows the type well, as a man who spent years carving durable melodies stuffed with smart lyrics and oozing with wounded passion, social righteousness and romantic loss.
Earle usually knows what he’s talking about, but a group of singer-songwriters around here seems to be proving him wrong.
Surprise, the street corner serenaders are back.
They’re too fresh to be hard-core, but they’re running wild these days, especially in this neck of the woods. And they’re often so young that you want to take some of them home for a glass of milk.
“Young performers need to kick our butts with the truth of now,” says singer-songwriter Bill Camplin, co-owner of Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson, which plays hosts to many local singer-songwriters.
The typical new Madison area folkster is young and virtually naked on a stage, with nothing but a guitar and whatever’s inside him or her. They include Corey Hart, 27; Dave Coles, 29; Marty Finkel, 21; John Statz, 23; Hayward Williams, 27; Josh Harty, 30; Blake Thomas, 25; Erin O’Brien, 30-something; Vid Libert, 30; and Icarus Himself, 25 (whose striking name comes from the title of a print by the late artist Jean Michel Basquiat).
In the past, singer-songwriters were baby boomers or older, but the new wave is clearly from another generation, probably the biggest movement of this kind since the late ’60s and early ’70s. They’re politically aware but don’t typically pound on musical soapboxes. They range stylistically from canyon-voiced country rocker Hayward Williams to slick-tongued folk hip-hopper Dave Coles to brilliantly textured neo-Beatles stylist Marty Finkel.
A few have taken the next step to a national following, like Madison native Marla Hansen or Fort Atkinson’s Jeffrey Foucault, whose career took off after he played at the legendary Newport Folk Festival in 2006. Then there’s Stephanie Rearick, co-owner of Mother Fool’s Coffee Shop, where some of these youngsters play. Rearick, a 39-year-old activist, juggles her commitments to the Madison political scene and a solo career on the road.

madison.com

Valleys of Vermont Chapter-National Wild Turkey Federation will hold its annual banquet on April 5 at the Holiday Inn in Rutland.
Doors open at 6 p.m. The evening begins with raffles, silent auction and viewing of the live auction items. The live auction follows dinner and the night ends with a large raffle.
The future of hunting depends on our children and Valleys of Vermont encourages everyone to bring a young person to the banquet.
This year, Hand Chevrolet of Manchester has partnered with Valleys of Vermont by becoming a major sponsor of the chapter and the NWTF. Contact Bill Gaiotti at 293-5823 for more information.

read_more

" Feelings of hope and inspiration about Obama will evaporate when the commercials tying him to a convicted felon slumlord, an unrepentant terrorist who hates the troops, and a Professor of Middle Eastern Studies who is perceived as a shill for the PLO. Oh, YES THEY WILL! YES, THEY WILL. "
Larry C. Johnson has kicked around his theories of international terrorism and related chicanery for decades. Amazingly, despite his supposed expertise and high-powered, high-dollar consultation fees at B.E.R.G. Associates LLC: this man has been spectacularly WRONG more often than not. He first came to prominence when he served as a Deputy Director in Papa Bush's State Department's office of Counterterrorism leaving shortly after Bill Clinton assumed the Presidency. Aviation security has been his specialty throughout his intelligence career though he probably doesn't take credit for protecting us against terrorism from the skies as he repeatedly discounted Osama bin Laden's capability for doing us harm within our own borders.
He has appeared often as a terrorism expert in the media, especially at Fox News, Johnson opines frequently on matters related to international intrigue,security, money laundering. However, his most obvious expertise is self-promotion as his record of imparting useful information to us peons is painfully misinformed and ill advised.
Though an 'Orin Hatch' Republican, he's gotten considerable media mileage in the last few years by imparting such wisdom as the outing of Valerie Plame and our involvement in Iraq was probably not such a good idea. Well, DUH! Conversely,most of his earlier brilliance shared with the likes of Huffington Post, Daily Kos, CNN, MSNBC, , Fox, etc did not come so easy and thus was not prescient.
In 1996, he informed multiple media audiences that terrorism was on the decline while also taking the the opposite side in a NYTimes Oped stating " our country faces a growing threat from international terrorism." In 1998, he correctly warned us about the threat of bin Laden but in 1999 he told us via Frontline that while bin Laden is a threat he doesn't have the capability to deliver upon the threat or indeed the followers willing to implement his desires to do us harm. He also accused the Clinton Administration of blowing smoke and crying wolf(in fact labeling them the ' sky is falling 'administration) regarding the dangers of terrorism.
In 2000, he decried how impotent and weak the Clinton administration was regarding terrorism and looked forward to a change in leadership. In 2001, two months before 9/11, Johnson again discounted the threat of bin Laden and terrorism. Two months after 9/11, true to form, Johnson approved of the FBI's scuttled plan to round up 5,000 racially profiled foreign-born college students for questioning.
The past several years, Johnson gets his name in print and his face on TV by playing the role of the former GOP insider who has finally seen the light regarding the most egriegious Rovian atrocities of the Busheviks.
Now let's review Johnson's cast of characters that he supposes will certainly doom the charismatic Obama:
Larry Johnson's piece is basically a "hatchet job guilt by association" offering all dressed up as a warning regarding how horribly the GOP hit men will chop, slice and dice Obama should he receive the Dem's nomination. Basically, Johnson's thesisfocuses on Obama's association with three men going back to Obama's career in Chicago: Antonin Rezko, William Ayers, and Rashid Khalidi.
An examination of these men and their alleged ties to Obama is not nearly as malignant as Johnson portrays. Ayers and Khalidi are acclaimed, recognized,
distinguised college professors. Ayers is currently at the University of Illinois, Chicago and Khalidi was for years at the University of Chicago, though he is now at Columbia University in New York. Rezko is a wealthy Chicago businessman who was born and raised in Syria. Khalidi is a native New Yorker of Lebanese heritage.
Though acclaimed world wide as an authority in the area of Middle Eastern Studies, he has had to repeatedly deny ties and/or allegiances to the PLO. Rezko sold Obama his present home in Chicago which was eased by Rezko's wife's agreeing to buy a large adjoining lot as required by the sellers. The Obama's later purchased a sixth of that lot which the Rezko's originally purchased for $630,000.00 and paid $105,000.00. Recently, after Rezko was indicted on non-related ethics charges, Obama donated an $65,000.00 political contribution from Rezko to charity.
At the same time, Hillary Clinton returned an $800,000.00 tainted contribution while McCain and Huckabee were probably relegated to having wet dreams about such substantial contributions. William Ayers has an obviously questionable past as he was a member of a radical, violent anti-war group, the Weather Underground which did indeed carry out bombings of public and military buildings.
Though many charges against Ayers were subsequently dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct; Ayers has publically apologized for his crimes.
Ayers published his account of those times in 2001 with the book Fugitive Days. In an interview with the New York Times to promote his book about the Weathermen he said, "I was embarrassed by the arrogance, the solipsism, the absolute certainty that we and we alone knew the way".
Recall Barack Obama was only nine-years-old at the time of William Ayers' violent anti-war Viet Nam activities. Ayers' association with the adult Obama consists of their serving on the board of an anti-poverty group in Chicago from 2000-2002, In 2001, Ayers contributed $200.00 to Obama's campaign for the Illinois State Senate. Both Ayers and Obama deny any ties since they each went off the board of the Woods Fund in 1992.
In view of Hillary's questionable financial past and present, McCain's presence in the starting line up of the infamous " Keating Five " and Revko's co-chairing a megamillion dollar fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in 2003; I'm happy to take my chances with Barack Obama in a race of the 'swift boats'.

opednews.com