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Rumsfeld stepping down, GOP officials say.

For extensively documented long list of police brutality in the U.S. circa 1999 see:

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR5114719 99?open&of=ENG-USA

Police killed almost 10,000 people in a 20 year period between 1976 and 1998:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0428-04.ht m

Police have tasered 167 people to death in just the last 7 years, clearly when a taser is deployed death ought not to result.

http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special43/articl es/1224taserlist24-ON.html

According to Human Rights Watch an internationally respected human rights organization these conditions obtain in American prisons:

"In recent years, U.S. prison inmates have been beaten with fists and batons, stomped on, kicked, shot, stunned with electronic devices, doused with chemical sprays, choked, and slammed face first onto concrete floors by the officers whose job it is to guard them. Inmates have ended up with broken jaws, smashed ribs, perforated eardrums, missing teeth, burn scars--not to mention psychological scars and emotional pain. Some have died.

Both men and women prisoners--but especially women--face staff rape and sexual abuse. Correctional officers will bribe, coerce, or violently force inmates into granting sexual favors, including oral sex or intercourse. Prison staff have laughed at and ignored the pleas of male prisoners seeking protection from rape by other inmates."

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/14/usdom8583.h tm

And the use of restraint chairs as torture devices in U.S. jails and prisons:

" restraint chairs have been used for punishment of nonthreatening behavior;

children have been strapped into the chairs for nonviolent behaviors;

nude inmates and detainees have been strapped into restraint chairs;

prisoners have been left in restraint chairs for as long as eight days. In some cases, the jail staff failed to manipulate the prisoners' limbs to protect against blood clots;

prisoners have been required to testify while in restraint chairs;

prisoners have been interrogated while in restraint chairs;

prisoners have been injured while in restraint chairs;

prisoners have been tortured by being hooded, pepper-gassed, beaten, or threatened with electrocution while in the chairs;

at least eleven people have died under questionable circumstances after being strapped into a restraint chair.

Use of the restraint chair is widespread: Jails, state and federal prisons, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, state mental hospitals, juvenile detention centers, and foreign governments are all equipped with the chair.

Amnesty International has called for a federal investigation into use of the restraint chair. The device "is an issue of great concern to us," says Angela Wright, a researcher at Amnesty's headquarters in London. "It appears to be used in some jurisdictions as a front-line or even routine form of control, including as a punishment for disruptive or annoying behavior."

http://www.progressive.org/mag_cusacchair

And swat teams are being militarized and given ex-military hardware:

"It's unlikely that the officer who shot Culosi did so intentionally. But it's also unlikely that the investigation into this shooting will address why police sent a military-style unit to arrest an optometrist under investigation for a nonviolent crime and why the officers had their guns drawn when approaching a man with no history of violence.

I'm surprised I don't see a link to the original story yet, so here it is:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/10/24/122153/98

From the story:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl, --AZ-01: Rick Renzi, --AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth, --CA-04: John Doolittle, --CA-11: Richard Pombo, --CA-50: Brian Bilbray, --CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave, --CO-05: Doug Lamborn, --CO-07: Rick O'Donnell, --CT-04: Christopher Shays, --FL-13: Vernon Buchanan, --FL-16: Joe Negron, --FL-22: Clay Shaw, --ID-01: Bill Sali, --IL-06: Peter Roskam, --IL-10: Mark Kirk, --IL-14: Dennis Hastert, --IN-02: Chris Chocola, --IN-08: John Hostettler, --IA-01: Mike Whalen, --KS-02: Jim Ryun, --KY-03: Anne Northup, --KY-04: Geoff Davis, --MD-Sen: Michael Steele, --MN-01: Gil Gutknecht, --MN-06: Michele Bachmann, --MO-Sen: Jim Talent, --MT-Sen: Conrad Burns, --NV-03: Jon Porter, --NH-02: Charlie Bass, --NJ-07: Mike Ferguson, --NM-01: Heather Wilson, --NY-03: Peter King, --NY-20: John Sweeney, --NY-26: Tom Reynolds, --NY-29:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl --AZ-01: Rick Renzi --AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth --CA-04: John Doolittle --CA-11: Richard Pombo --CA-50: Brian Bilbray --CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave --CO-05: Doug Lamborn --CO-07: Rick O'Donnell --CT-04: Christopher Shays --FL-13: Vernon Buchanan --FL-16: Joe Negron --FL-22: Clay Shaw --ID-01: Bill Sali --IL-06: Peter Roskam --IL-10: Mark Kirk --IL-14: Dennis Hastert --IN-02: Chris Chocola --IN-08: John Hostettler --IA-01: Mike Whalen --KS-02: Jim Ryun --KY-03: Anne Northup --KY-04: Geoff Davis --MD-Sen: Michael Steele --MN-01: Gil Gutknecht --MN-06: Michele Bachmann --MO-Sen: Jim Talent --MT-Sen: Conrad Burns --NV-03: Jon Porter --NH-02: Charlie Bass --NJ-07: Mike Ferguson --NM-01: Heather Wilson --NY-03: Peter King --NY-20: John Sweeney --NY-26: Tom Reynolds --NY-29: Randy Kuhl --NC-08: Robin Hayes --NC-11: Charles Taylor --OH-01:

Some articles to think about in the upcoming election:

Jon Kyl Rick Renzi J.D. Hayworth John Doolittle Richard Pombo Brian Bilbray Marilyn Musgrave Doug Lamborn Rick O'Donnell Christopher Shays Vernon Buchanan Joe Negron Clay Shaw Bill Sali Peter Roskam Mark Kirk Dennis Hastert Chris Chocola John Hostettler Mike Whalen Jim Ryun Anne Northup Geoff Davis Michael Steele Gil Gutknecht Michele Bachmann Jim Talent Conrad Burns Jon Porter Charlie Bass Mike Ferguson Heather Wilson Peter King John Sweeney Tom Reynolds Randy Kuhl Robin Hayes Charles Taylor Steve Chabot Jean Schmidt Deborah Pryce

The move to the suburbs and mass adoption of the car took place in only a decade or two, post WWII. It might take 20 years to turn around, but not doing so will fuck the planet for ever.

It's not as easy as you think. Things are a little different in Australia than in the US; here, there's 10 times as many people, and things are a lot more developed. WWII was a long time ago, and the population was much smaller back then. Since that time, things have expanded, and people have moved west. Where I live, Phoenix, was really a small town back then, and now its a metropolis with 4 million people.

The best way to get people onto bikes is to create the equivalent of bike freeways that cyclists can travel along without any cars. This can be very cheaply done by putting a bike lane next to a river.

Not all cities are laid out along a river. We have one river running through Phoenix (if you can call it a river; most of the time it's completely dried up), but the city itself is more like a grid.

I agree that more "bike freeways" are needed; this would be very helpful for people who'd like to bike, but don't because it's too dangerous to share the road with cars. However, I'm not sure how this can cheaply be done when all the property is already developed. Municipalities like to call themselves "bike friendly" by putting bike lanes along major thoroughfares, but this is pretty stupid as I've pointed out before. Only people with a death wish want to ride next to 60mph traffic, especially with the idiot drivers we have here in America. Even worse, there's actually few penalties here for killing other people (in cars or on bikes) in traffic, even if negligence is proven.

link - this woman's husband was killed by a driver. His fine? $1000. Kill a biker with your SUV and you only have to pay $1000.

But even if "bike freeways" were installed, this would only help a small percentage of people, most likely: those lucky enough to live close enough to their job to bike (10 miles or so, at the very most). Because cities are already laid out with so much distance between places (i.e., residential areas are usually not close to industrial and commercial areas where the jobs are), many people simply won't have this option. Of course, some stupid unmarried Slashdotter will probably chime in here and say "move close to the job", but this isn't an option for many people, especially those who are married. It's nearly impossible for two people to arrange it so that they both live 5 miles or so from their workplaces.

The only way you're really going to get any serious change along these lines is to build a whole new city designed around bikes and public transit. But this requires 1) businesses to come in and provide jobs, and 2) people to come in and pay for home construction. Good luck getting all that buy-in. We have a development a little like this here in Arizona, just outside Phoenix. It's called "Arcosanti". It's an interesting little place to visit, and you can buy some artsy stuff there, but it's been around several decades now and hasn't exactly turned into a metropolis.

There is a whole genre of people that marketers call "gold-collar." They have jobs that are neither blue nor white collar, generally fast food or mall type jobs. These people spend Hundreds on a purse. They are more or less people who make very little money but buy expensive luxury goods. It seems odd, but they are very real...
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonali ving/articles/0727goldcollar.html
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2005-06-08- gold-collar_x.htm?csp=N009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold-collar_worker
Um and one other thing- say it with me- CREDIT CARDS
Intelligent people think something that costs $600 costs, well, $600. A ton of people think $600 costs an extra $2 on their minimum monthly payment on their Capital One card... Money is not an issue to a lot of people, as long as they can charge it...

You state that there is an excess of uranium. Is that why uranium prices have increased over 500% in the last six years? Commodity prices in general have been soaring, and many other countries use uranium. Electrification of India (nuclea power) and China (also nuclear power) is creating a surge in power consumption.

The Soviet materials have been mostly reprocessed. Consumption has reached 80 thousand tonnes per year, and production is still less than 50 thousand tonnes. Additionally, GE has already signed to build a facility in the US. Obviously someone thinks it's worth the investment.

Nazis showed up at the Immigrant protests in Phoenix and and now riots have broken out! Holy shit!

> so correct me if I'm wrong

You're wrong.

Major river systems in the western US (e.g., the Colorado) are being used up---as in, once-mighty rivers have little or no water that reaches the sea---by residential, industrial, and agricultural consumers. Building reservoirs won't do a thing to fix that - all they do is move the water elsewhere. That's not the problem - the problem is simply that there isn't enough water in the area, and no amount of changing where you catch it will fix that.

Try 'business casual' dress while riding 30 miles on a bike.

I'm just one of those guys that sweats when the temp goes above 80, let alone when wearing dress pants, and a long sleeved collared shirt.

It's not because I'm fat either. At 12% bodyfat and in the gym 6 days a week (I bodybuild), I'm actually a decent picture of health.

Here's an interesting link about the pollution issues coming to AZ this year because of our now 140-days-without-any-rain drought - Cleaner air on the way? Don't hold your breath

I'd love the extra cardio from riding a bike, but when the temperature is about to hit 115+ degrees here in Arizona within a matter of months, it's so HOT (you can actually feel your body being directly affected by the direct heat) that doing anything short of dumping ice in your pants won't help.

We have the light rail as well as some other transit options coming, and Tempe is pretty bike-friendly, but unless the companies we work for that demand us to dress a certain way, get there by a certain time, etc. modify things, we're stuck doing the best we can to get out of our house in time to get to work on time.

Another video showed a handcuffed man repeatedly pounding his head against a metal cell door. The same prisoner was shown in other pictures, including one in which he is smeared in his own feces and another in which he dangles naked from the top bunk of a bed. SBS said the man was mentally ill and became a "plaything" for the guards who "experimented with ways to restrain him."

The US government tried to prevent this being aired (this last week) on the grounds that it would "instill further anti-American sentiment". I don't know about you, but that's beginning to come up to the same league. It's certainly far more intense than the 'humiliation' that's previousy been talked about.

I'm not sure what the absolute latest is on the deal right now, but what I read was ABC is interested in picking it up with a one season commitment and Showtime is willing to commit to 2 seasons. It sounds like Showtime might be the one to get it, but the deal is contingent on the creator Mitch Hurwitz coming with it.

Geeks are in right now - don't you know that? Even supermodels and hollywood stars are dating them. Find a girlfriend now why it lasts (or at least stop blaming not having one on being a geek). ;)

Geeks are "in"

Computer Geeks Are "In"

It's chic to be geek! Geeks are in vogue on TV, film

There seems to be a huge number of people on here who dont realise that there are water problems out there...yes even in America, so this is one time you cant just ignore it.

One link here http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special06/articl es/0722colorado-conflict.html

points out some of the issues. Water is something that will be causing wars in the future as countries sitting on the same major rivers fight for its resource. YES you can waste water, what comes out of the tap does not just go straight back into usable water and fall as rain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2943946. stm Why world's taps are running dry

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-01-26-wat er-usat_x.htm Water shortages will leave world in dire straits

Some other quotes ripped...

" - The Colorado River Reservoir System will not be able to meet all of the demands placed on it -- including water supply for Southern California and the inland Southwest -- because reservoir levels will be reduced by more than one-third and releases by as much as 17 percent. The greatest effects will be on lower Colorado River Basin states. All users of Colorado River hydroelectric power will be affected by lower reservoir levels and flows, which will result in reductions in hydropower generation by as much as 40 percent.

- In the Central Valley of California, it will be impossible to meet current water system performance levels so that impacts will be felt in reduced reliability of water supply deliveries, hydropower production and instream flows. With less fresh water available, the Sacramento Delta could experience a dramatic increase in salinity and subsequent ecosystem disruption. "

I live in the Phoenix area which is served by the Arizona Republic. Their excellent online version carries all the same stories that the print one does.

I just set my Yahoo RSS reader to list their news, business, community, and offbeat sections and it gives me the top ten stories for each main section of the paper (at least, the ones that I'm interested in). I can scan the headlines and brief intro to see if I would like to read more in depth and I find much more relevant local news that way. I never waste my time on television news unless there is some national breaking news story being covered by the news channels.

If there is breaking local news, the RSS is updated, and I usually read about it long before it makes it to the print version. We get the paper every day, but it's a complete waste for me because I get much more news from the online version.

Other countries are claiming that the U.S. has mismanaged the internet. Which has led to broad speculation that the internet will splinter soon while those other countries work on their own "Internet."

If one were to judge our use (read: underuse) of the internet on the public level... well, that's just a whole new angle on our lack of efficacy in educating our own. Think about it, at $50/month for a typical broadband connection in this country it's cost-prohibitive for a large segment of the population to access the internet regulary. Sure, there's dialup, but the frustration involved in dialup could discourage an internet "newbie" from using it. Let us also not forget that many, many metro areas have horrible phone lines. Our infrastructure in the U.S. is sad when you consider the fact that we're still (for now) the largest economy in the world.

The best way to build your population up intellectually is through information. The undisputed king of information is the "Internet." Imagine all the eyes that could be opened. Mixed in, of course, with all the idiocy, smut, and exploitation...

But some locales are contemplating making wireless accessible to the general public. So there is a movement. It's just a shame that in the most mighty economy in the world the cost is still prohibitive for a good segment of its population.

Keep squeaking about it... perhaps the corporations will grease the wheel. But I doubt it. What we need is a brave provider to go for the quantity, and not the quality (I never thought I'd say that) -- in other words, make the pricing attractive for everyone.

Yes, there is definitely something wrong with the education in the U.S. I just finished reading this very saddening article about teaching science in middle schools in my hometown. Some of the lowlights:

"But in light of the increasing focus on science at the state and national level, and Mesa's lack of science emphasis in junior highs, changes appear inevitable. 'With the science requirements so important, we need to look at scheduling and how we can pull that off,' said board President Mike Hughes. 'We're just trying to find ways to increase the science.'

"Last year, [only] 3 percent of Mesa junior high students completed the "advanced track," which requires a full year of science in all three grades."

"Mesa ninth-graders are required to take English, math and world history and can choose among any number of elective courses to fill out their schedule."

Notice, science is missing from that list. Add to this the fact that parents have a hissy fit if you take away any of the electives.

"The prospect of taking away an elective offering and adding science sounds simple enough, but at the retreat, board members were clearly aware of the potential backlash. They cited Kyrene's School Board president, who became the subject of an ongoing recall effort after the board approved cutting back on some middle school electives..."

And a real world example of the lack of qualified teachers:

"The district will need six qualified instructors to teach science to all Mesa's ninth-graders beginning next year, but would need an extra 20 science teachers to extend the program to the eighth-grade level. Those numbers concern Mesa administrators because of the dearth of new qualified science teachers. There are more than 100 student teachers working in the Mesa district this year, and fewer than 10 are qualified to teach math or science at the junior high level."

If only the theories were right. You're right and all, but please stop speaking like that.

More like something along these lines.

Sorry, even if you can steal the identity of a US Senator, not much will happen. From a recent article, "Two people who tried to use a credit card number belonging to Cindy McCain, the wife of Sen. John McCain, were sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in prison for identity theft." Aside from 2.5 years in prison (probably less with parole), nothing else has really been done with this incident. Here's the actual article from the AZ Republic, if anyone's interested.

A top 20 city or college town.. Howl's Moving Castle will be coming to my fairly small college town on the 17th. This is one of the reasons Sundance Cinemas is such a great idea, it will help bring these types of films further across the country. Info about Sundance Cinemas here: http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0523Redf ord-ON.html

I was reading a story a few weeks ago about a lake in Russia just being sucked into a sinkhole and disappearing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/06/03/AR2005060301524.html

Russian lake disappearing into a sinkhole
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0604russia- lake04.html

Incidentally other types of these stories do break (albeit in sort of a ha-ha weird bit of the day sense).

Bud employee fired for drinking Coors (the link itself says "offbeat").

I read all 6 links that resulted from your google search, and I think I'm going to have to ask for some specific examples from you because NONE of those links to indicate that the executive or legislative branch of the U.S. Government is not accountable to the judicial! Most aren't even about the American government! Did you read MY links? Most go to people who are suing the federal government!

I also read the links from my previous post. Here's the actual text from one

The settlement comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago the White Mountain Apache Tribe could sue the Interior Department for failing to take care of buildings at the historic fort since 1960, when Congress made the department a trustee over the Indian land.

If you want to REALLY learn something about the court system in the US and it's role in relationship to the other branches of government read about Marbury v. Madison

/.'s article here is the first I've heard of this Real ID plan...

Well, aside from the obvious fact that since the neo-con coup the network media hasn't covered anything except talking-dubya-points, the reason you haven't noticed this tidbit of legistlation (which apparently started back in Feburary) is because "liberal media" has painted it as an immagration issue - that is: the only people targeted by this legislation according to the to PTB and their media cheerleaders were illegal aliens - I heard it debated on Faux News as an immagration issue a least a month ago. I would have to say either a) you haven't been paying attention, or b) you are foolish enough to a ctually believe the that the motives these pseudo-news agencies put forward are the actual intent of the neo-con coup. Nothing could be further from the truth, of course...

Here is a list of articles about this legislation (trivially found using Google) from some touchy feely immagration rights outfit that no one will pay any attention to.

[ -- copied & pasted -- ]

The REAL ID Act in the Media

• "Jewish Groups Oppose US's Stricter Controls on Asylum," Jerusalem Post, March 9, 2005
• "Death Sentence?" Christianity Today, March 8, 2005
• "Republican Plan Would Tighten Laws for Asylum Cases," Hearst Newspapers, March 6, 2005
• "Keep the Doors Open," The Jewish Week editorial, February 25, 2005
• "Unwelcome Mat," The Boston Globe, February 25, 2005
• "Religious Asylum Assailed," Family News in Focus, February 22, 2005 (PDF - 51KB)
• "Proyecto de ley torpedea el derecho de asilo," El Nuevo Herald, February 22, 2005
• "Conservative camps split on tightening asylum," The Boston Globe, February 21, 2005
• "Not broke, don't fix," The Washington Times, February 20, 2005
• "National ID Party," The Wall Street Journal editorial, February 17, 2005 (subscription required)
• "On Guard, America," The New York Times editorial, February 15, 2005
• "Refugee Politics," The Baltimore Sun editorial, February 14, 2005
• "Real ID Act deserves defeat in the Senate," San Antonio Express-News editorial, February 18, 2005
• "Playing the terror card," Contra Costa Times, February 14, 2005
• "Ineffectual migrant policy," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial

From http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0408spamsen tence-ON.html
"Jaynes was prosecuted not for pumping out e-mail in bulk, but for falsifying information used to route the messages."

Except that the recent "crack" was in the foam insulation, not the shuttle itself.

"The start of the move was briefly delayed by the discovery of a crack in the external fuel tank's foam insulation. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration later said the crack was no reason for concern.

The flaw was discovered as the spacecraft was being readied for the first shuttle launch since Columbia fell to pieces, a disaster blamed on a chunk of foam that fell off the tank during liftoff and gashed one of the wings.

NASA spokeswoman Jessica Rye described the flaw as a hairline crack and said that, after sending images of it to the tank's manufacturer in Louisiana, the space agency concluded it did not need to make any repairs.

NASA later said the 1 1/2-inch crack was high up on the shuttle in a spot where, if foam flew off, it would not likely hit the vehicle.

"It's a very, very tiny crack. Very, very narrow . . . well within our experience base," said Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director. "It was an acceptable condition for flight."

"It has the same power as a stun gun. It knocks you down."

Yep. Just like they all seem to have overlooked the fact that Tom "Terri Schiavo is a gift from God to the Republicans" DeLay refused to have his brain damaged father put on kidney dialysis. Hypocrisy cuts both ways.

Please - I've lived there, and everything he said is spot on. Nothing like having your neighbors assume you're LDS, then ignore you when they give up trying to convert you. And that thinking is common, believe me. The church heirarchy(all males, usually white and elderly to avoid any progressive thought) states their position, and if you were to speak out against it you would find yourself in poor shape. It's the same idea as some of those Southern 'voter guides', which leave little doubt as to whom the proper political party or candidate it. I love how they just passed a gay marriage ban, yet turn the other cheek to the polygamist pedophiles in the southern part of Utah. Of course, the only reason they're not practicing it anymore is because they wanted statehood. (and it was a convenient time to get a 'revelation'). Check out some of the brilliant wisdom of the church leaders regarding families. Since every member gives 10% of their income to the church, that brain-dead socially irresponsible policy of littering the earth with offspring creates many 'happy' customers. So please, don't give us the 'we're mainstream Christians who value free thought' garbage, because nothing could be further from the truth. The policies a government puts forth are usually representative of the collective wisdom of it's members...

Erm, given recent events, I don't know if dangling anything in front of a monkey is a good idea.

There are few, if any, Mormon democrats in AZ anymore. Morris Udall was the last prominent one, and he died years ago.

Link: Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoint s/articles/1128jennings1128.html

Don't forget Ashcroft!

Oh, you mean that device that kills people?

Of course, one official claims the 50,000-volt administering device doesn't even injure...

Fortunately, The Arizona Republic did its own investigation:

The Republic, using computer searches, autopsy reports, police reports, media reports and Taser's own records, has identified 90 cases in the United States and Canada of death following a police Taser strike since September 1999. In 12 cases, medical examiners said Tasers were a cause, a contributing factor or could not be ruled out as a cause of death. In 19 cases, coroners and other officials reported the stun gun was not a factor.

Idjit. That was ol' Doc Brown that was selling uranium to the Libyans!!!

The ice blockage also threatens penguin breeding colonies, with tens of thousands of Adele penguin chicks facing starvation as parent birds are forced to trudge up to 110 miles to open sea to gather food. [snip]

"These things can linger for 20 years," he said.

No one said anything of the kind. The other commenter (alsta (9424)) has it right.

The answer to your post is within your own post. The problem is the crime, the criminal who does the evil deed. Not the gun. Guns of themselves do nothing. In the hands of good people, they are used to do good. In the hands of evil, they are used to do evil.

Nor can you prevent the evil from aquiring and using guns. For instance, a 'hit' was just performed using a gun in a high security prison in Mexico. See azcentral news

MEXICO CITY - A fellow inmate opened fire on the brother of one of Mexico's most-wanted kingpins, killing him inside a maximum-security prison west of the country's capital, authorities said Saturday.

Arturo Guzman was shot seven times and died almost instantly around 7 p.m. Friday at La Palma, a federal penitentiary that holds Mexico's most dangerous and high-profile prisoners and is in the town of Almoloya de Juarez, outside Mexico City, according to a statement released by state authorities.

• "...General Dynamics C4 Systems, the Scottsdale-based division of defense giant General Dynamics Corp., will hold a job fair Saturday to fill nearly 300 engineering and program manager jobs. A similar job fair in October drew hundreds of job seekers and resulted in 30 new hires. General Dynamics has won billions of dollars of new contracts in the past two years. It is seeking engineers experienced in communication, radio and spacecraft systems, along with lead software and project engineers. Salaries range from $60,000 to $150,000 a year. Applicants must hold or be qualified for a U.S. Defense Department security clearance...
  
  ...The Arizona Technology Council was getting so many requests from member companies looking to hire workers that it launched a job-matching service on its Web site in late November. The Career Center has 55 technology jobs posted from 23 local companies so far, and council staffers are eager to get more job candidates in the system...
  
  ...A net 13 percent of chief information officers in the Phoenix area said they plan to hire workers in the first quarter, according to a survey of 100 executives by Robert Half Technology. That is better than the national average, where just a net 9 percent of 1,400 CIOs surveyed have hiring plans...
  
  ...Salaries also are going up, Gabrielson said, and some candidates are even getting multiple job offers. The firm is having to educate its client companies that they may need to make decisions more quickly than usual to get the candidate they want, he said..."

Excellent post, just two slight corrections:

1. "The dollar is 1.36 euros" -- that should be "the euro costs 1.36 dollars"

2. " Generally speaking, this trend has not been worse only because the Chinese (of all countries) are supporting the dollar buying enormous amounts of it on the markets."
-- It's not that much that they are *buying*, they are not really buying the dollar, they are just not letting go of the decade old policy of pegging their currency to the dollar via a fixed exchange rate.

The reason why they are doing so is because otherwise, their currency would be much more valuable, making their export business less competitive (in terms of price).

Dummies from 'War of the Worlds' float away in river Has anyone seen Tom Cruise recently?

Um, OK.

I live in one of the largest metro areas (Phoenix) and only know of one such station. Some truly awesome individual who owns a few small stations took one that was failing and turned it into his own private station.

No commercials, no DJs, just non-stop music from his own (huge) playlist, randomly chosen by an automated system. He's got a serious following, even though it's a low-power station. Funny thing is, he could care less.

But even so, it's an anomaly. He's rich enough to run it at a loss just because he wants a station he likes. And, he's got the license to run it, because he was wealthy enough to buy it, license and all in the first place. Not too many folks out there with that kind of money, influence, skills and devotion.

See also

Cut the budget for the National Science Foundation while spending money on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and other inane ideas. This will eventually kill basic research and hence the flow of new jobs to replace the 400,000 IT jobs lost in the past three years.

To date only six documented cases of human survival from clinical rabies have been reported and each included a history of either pre- or postexposure prophylaxis.

Willoughby said he had not expected Giese to survive when she was admitted to the hospital. But he said he studied numerous cases of the disease, and a team of consultants, including CDC officials, decided within four hours to go ahead with the experimental treatment.

"I knew that this was a 100 percent fatal disease, so I knew there wasn't much we could do," Willoughby said.

Willoughby said he could not reveal the exact drugs that were used because medical protocol requires scientists first to publish the results in a medical journal. He said they were two anesthetic and two antiviral medications.

I'd try for a "First Post," but I'd like to include some actual content here.

For those of you not reading the attached article, it is a summary of a report that says that reading an hour's worth of fairy tales to your kids contains more violent imagery than an hour of evening television.

The difference is the medium - parents reading stories vs. children watching TV (usually without supervision). Parents who blame video games for violent behavior need to take a long hard look at themselves first, before making the leap that violence in games is tied to violence in the real world.

That being said, I am all for some additional coporate responsibility to not sell violent games to children under (insert arbitrary age between 10 and 14 here). Ultimately though, it's up to parents to help provide context for these things.

And just for the long term, can you provide your definition of "middle class"?

If we're talking lifestyle:

In the Midwest, $60,000 to $150,000 annual gross income. $150,000 to $250,000 would be "upper middle class". $250,000 to $1,000,000 would be "lower upper class". I say this because a "middle class lifestyle" should be supportable on a single income, and that income should be enough to house, clothe, raise, and send off to college two to three children. Like it was through the 50's and 60's.

Now if we're talking actual gross income (look here for these numbers):

$33,314 to $83,500 would be "middle class": 40th percentile to 80th percentile, covering 40% of the population. $83,501 to $150,498 could be "upper middle class", making anything over $150,499 "upper class".

Do you feel middle class now?

But according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Edward Prescott, if your household is making less than $200,000 annually, you must be pretty lazy since it's "easy" to do.

.

Proof, no proof, hole, no hole... it really doesn't matter.

This has now been proven.

Is Toronto a nice place to live? I happen to be a man that likes men and Amerika is obviously not the right place for me.

The live ones are pretty good at it too. (No word if they got Timmy out of the well however.)

Or take the flu-shot ferry to Victoria BC.