Television host Adam Kokesh and several other activists participating in a flash-mob were arrested at the publicly-funded Thomas Jefferson Memorial on May 28, 2011. Their crime? Silently dancing, in celebration of the First Amendment’s champion. It appears to be a clear violation of their right to free-expression, but this is still the era of the Patriot Act. Is it an excessive use of force? This video was captures of Kokesh being body slammed and placed in a choke hold for an undefined crime.
Thousands of volunteers have helped pile debris, cut trees, and burn materials since the killer tornadoes hit the South in April.
With all the clean up efforts going on, the air is full of dust, dirt and particles from insulation that homeowners and volunteers are dealing air full of dust, standing stagnate water, and mold on the walls, carpet and ceilings, according to experts.
Doctor Jason Smith, a Pulmonary Physician with Huntsville Hospital, said it’s enough to make anyone sick.
“With the storms you have to think about it like the ozone. Pollution will bring the ozone down,” Dr. Smith said. “A normal person will become short of breath.”
Last night, Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan’s Tea Party-inspired budget didn’t even come close to passing the Senate. It was voted down 40–57.
But 40 senators, including Alabama’s Sen. Richard Shelby and Sen. Jeff Session, voted for Rep. Ryan’s budget that would have replaced Medicare’s guaranteed health care funding for seniors with underfunded vouchers for private insurance — forcing a typical 65-year-old to spend $6,359 more a year in out-of-pocket costs by 2022.
Forty senators, including the two from Alabama, voted to make $4.3 trillion in drastic cuts — hitting everything from education and food aid for children to job training and Medicaid. And 40 senators, including Sessions and Shelby, both Republicans, voted for $4.2 trillion in tax cuts, which would have gone disproportionately to corporations and the rich.
“There are no excuses for this vote. And no acceptable explanations,” Manny Herrmann, the online mobilization coordinator for the AFL-CIO, said in a press release. “We all need to make sure voters know where Sens. Sessions and Shelby stand. That starts right now, with letting your senators know this vote will have serious consequences.”
The U.S. Senate rejected the budget passed by House Republicans by a vote of 40-57 this week. The budget would have replaced Medicare’s guaranteed health care funding for seniors with underfunded vouchers for private insurance, forcing a typical 65-year-old to spend $6,359 more a year in out-of-pocket costs by 2022.
It also would have made drastic cuts to services for children and working families to pay for tax cuts that mostly would benefit corporations and the wealthy.
All Democrats opposed the budget proposal, as did Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul, a tea party favorite, said the budget didn’t go far enough.
“This tea party budget would destroy the fabric of our country rather than put America back to work and focus on what’s important,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in reaction to the vote. “While it cuts $4.3 trillion in spending that mainly helps middle- and low-income Americans, it gives out $4.2 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. This is no more than a pass-through to enrich the already rich at a time when inequality stands at historic levels.”
I am not a teacher or an employee of any school system. I am an accountant and the parent of a 5-year-old.
I am urging you to vote against the teacher tenure bill before you. This bill should not be passed as written.
First let me say, School Boards are to blame for teachers being paid while in jail. For many years, there have been rules in place to fire teachers that do not report to work. If a teacher is in jail, all a school board has to do is lift their suspension to fire them. If they are not suspended, they are failing to report to work. This allows a school board not to pay the person, to request the State School Board to revoke their teaching certificate, and terminate them for cause. If the person appeals, the appeal does not have to be delayed since it has nothing to do with the criminal act.
In an address at the National Press Club, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka charted an aggressive independent approach by working people and their unions to build the power of working people in the workplace and in the political sphere.
Trumka told the live audience and thousands of viewers on C-SPAN and other news outlets that working people want a labor movement strong enough to help return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation.
“Our role is not to build the power of a political party or a candidate. It is to improve the lives of working families and strengthen our country,” Trumka said.
It doesn’t matter if candidates and parties are controlling the wrecking ball or simply standing aside — the outcome is the same either way,” he said. “If leaders aren’t blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families’ interests, working people will not support them. This is where our focus will be — now, in 2012 and beyond.”
Editor’s Note: The new conservative Republican majority in the Alabama Legislature seems intent on destroying teacher tenure in a bill supported by the corporate press in the state. This is how one Republican teacher feels about that.
As a life-long Reagan Republican, all I see in Montgomery, Alabama, are Republicans behaving as I believed the Democrats behaved for decades.
Many Republicans followed a stance on SB72 insuring the continued dissemination of erroneous information ignoring the truth about DROP for middle-class Alabamians. Many Republicans voted Yes on SB 72.
Then, many Republicans in the House voted Yes on HB414, increasing the amount teachers contribute to retirement; the rate at which the retirement contribution ramps up is obscene.
Don’t just watch this documentary. Grasp the message and put it into practice. This is the holy grail for quality of life and health in modern times on Planet Earth.
What is the stress response? In the beginning it saved our lives, making us run from predators and enabling us to take down prey.
Today, human beings are turning on the same life-saving physical reaction to cope with 30-year mortgages, $4 a gallon gasoline, final exams, difficult bosses and even traffic jams — we can’t seem to turn it off.
We’re constantly marinating in corrosive hormones triggered by the stress response.
Now, scientists are showing just how measurable — and dangerous — prolonged exposure to stress can be.
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
