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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Baghdad in 2008.
WASHINGTON -- In the run-up to the war in Iraq,
neoconservative hawks in and out of the Bush administration promised
that the U.S. invasion would quickly transform that country into a
strong ally, a model Arab democracy and a major oil producer that would
lower world prices, even while paying for its own reconstruction.
"A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example
of freedom for other nations in the region," President George W. Bush told a crowd at the American Enterprise Institute in 2003, a few weeks before he launched the attack.
Ten bloody and grueling years later, Iraq is finally emerging from
its ruins and establishing itself as a geopolitical player in the Middle
East -- but not the way the neocons envisioned.
Though technically a democracy, Iraq's floundering government has
degenerated into a tottering quasi-dictatorship. The costs of the war (more than $800 billion) and reconstruction (more than $50 billion) have been staggeringly high. And while Iraq is finally producing oil at pre-war levels, it is trying its best to drive oil prices as high as possible.
Most disturbing to many American foreign policy experts, however, is
Iraq's extremely close relationship with Iran. Today, the country that
was formerly Iran's deadliest rival is its strongest ally.
Photo credit: AP | Afghan men inspect a damaged wedding hall that was the site of a bombing in Samangan province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan. (July, 14, 2012)
KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber blew himself up among guests
at a wedding hall Saturday in northern Afghanistan, killing 23 people
including a prominent ex-Uzbek warlord turned lawmaker who was the
father of the bride.
The attack was the latest to target
top figures from the country's minority groups and dealt a blow to
efforts to unify ethnic factions amid growing concerns that the country
could descend into civil war after foreign combat troops withdraw in
2014.
Ahmad Khan Samangani, an ethnic Uzbek
who commanded forces fighting the Soviets in the 1980s and later became a
member of parliament, was welcoming guests to his daughter's wedding
Saturday morning when the blast ripped through the building in Aybak,
the capital of Samangan province.
Three Afghan security force
officials also were among those killed. About 60 other people, including
government officials, were wounded in the attack, which left the
wedding hall's black-and-white tile floor covered with shattered glass,
blood and other debris.
ConAgra says that a lawsuit claiming its Hebrew National products aren't kosher is without merit.
(ConAgra screenshot)
ConAgra Foods Inc.,
the company that makes Hebrew National hot dogs and other meats, said a
lawsuit questioning the product’s kosher status is “without merit.”
The
complaint, filed in federal court in Minnesota, claims that Hebrew
National charges high prices for a designation that it doesn’t deserve.
The
suit, filed by 11 consumers and seeking class action status, accuses
ConAgra of using dirty animals for its meats. Kosher standards demand
healthy and clean livestock.
Kathleen Finch, senior vice president and general manager of HGTV.
(June 18, 2012)
From bait-and-switch marriage proposals to wig-pulling,
cocktail-tossing catfights, it's safe to say we've grown accustomed to
absurd contrivance and scripting in "reality" television. But who would
expect such dramatic puppet-mastering on HGTV?
Apparently
we all should have. Earlier this month on the website Hooked on Houses,
former "House Hunters" participant Bobi Jensen called the show a sham.
Jensen writes that the HGTV producers found her family's plan to turn
their current home into a rental property
"boring and overdone," and therefore crafted a narrative about their
desperation for more square footage. What's more, producers only agreed
to feature Jensen's family after they had bought their new house,
forcing them to "tour" friends' houses that weren't even for sale to
accommodate the trope of "Which one will they choose?"
You've seen our stunning planet, but never quite like this.
(Photo: Electro-L Satellite)
Sure, you may have seen NASA’s epic photograph
of the spinning blue marble we call home. But unlike that snapshot,
which was actually a composite image, a new 121-megapixel photograph
making the rounds is a single-shot.
It was snapped by a new Russian weather satellite, the Electro-L, reports Gizmodo.
Israel has responded to the failure of the latest nuclear talks between world powers and Iran with a familiar refrain: sanctions must be ramped up while the clock ticks down toward possible military action.
Jordan says a Syrian air force pilot has flown his Mig-21 fighter jet
to the kingdom and asked for political asylum, the Associated Press
reports.
"The jetfighter landed at 10:45am and the government is
currently considering the pilot's request," Jordanian Minister of State
for Information Samih al-Maaytah told The Jordan Times Thursday without elaborating further.
Reuters quotes al-Maaytah as saying the "is being debriefed at the moment."
Reuters says Syrian state television identified the pilot as Col. Hassan Hamada, reporting that he was on a training mission near the border when communications with the plane were lost.
HONOLULU
–
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has reached a deal to buy 98% of the island of Lanai from its current owner, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Wednesday.
For months now, New York officials have been highlighting how the city has regained all the jobs lost during the long recession and then some. But by several measures, the city’s recovery has left black New Yorkers behind.
Ángel Franco/The New York Times
Kevin Starkes, right, who lives in the South Bronx,
said he had been trying for about 10 weeks to find work as an
accountant.
More than half of all of African-Americans and other non-Hispanic blacks
in the city who were old enough to work had no job at all this year,
according to an analysis of employment data compiled by the federal Labor Department.
And when black New Yorkers lose their jobs, they spend a full year, on
average, trying to find new jobs — far longer than New Yorkers of other
races.
Nationally, the employment outlook for blacks has begun to brighten:
there were about one million more black Americans with jobs in May than
there were a year earlier, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But that is not the case in New York City, where the decline in
employment since the recession began here, in 2008, has been much
steeper for blacks than for white or Hispanic residents, said James
Parrott, chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal research group.
So, finally we have it. The Republican "Tax Cut Plan" in all its glory.
Mitt Romney and his Republican colleagues were intent on
putting forth what they thought would be a nice series of tax cuts and
popular, new, simple, reduced tax brackets.
Oops.
This is not actually reducing the burden on middle class families, it is increasing it. A new Joint Economic
Committee Study exposes this sham of a plan. Making President George
W. Bush's tax cuts permanent and further reducing the top rate to 25
percent is truly class warfare, Robin Hood in reverse, stick it to the
middle class. The fact is that to close the so-called loopholes and
get rid of the credits, many of which help the middle class, we are seeing a further redistribution of wealth to the wealthy.
The Romney-Ryan plan would increase taxes on wage earners
who make between $50,000 to $100,000 by $1,300. It would increase taxes
on those who make between $100,000 to $200,000 by $2,600. Another
great idea for taking us back to the Bush-era, on steroids.
If you make between $500,000 and $1 million, you get another nice check for $35,000—go buy a new car
or a big diamond ring. And if you happen to make over a million
dollars, the average redistribution of wealth comes to an unbelievable
$285,000.
Whether it's the solitude you get after a long and busy day or the independence -- you can walk around in your underwear all the time!
-- living alone has
its perks. Some people are perfectly happy to be alone all the time.
But being isolated and feeling lonely may put you at higher risk for
functional
decline and even death, new research finds.
Silly as it sounds, living by yourself carries a small if obvious
danger. When family members and roommates are around, they can intervene
in a medical
emergency. Being on your own means that, well, you're on your own.
Tomorrow, Jamaican strongman Christopher “Dudus” Coke will face a prison
sentence of up to twenty-three years in federal court. As I reported for the magazine in December,
at least seventy-three civilians died in the process of getting Coke
out of Jamaica and into U.S. custody. At the time, the Jamaican security
forces claimed that most of the dead were gunmen who died defending
Coke inside the barricaded neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens. But for these
seventy-three supposed gunmen, the security forces only recovered six
guns. Three of the dead were women. One was a U.S. citizen. Most appear
to have been unarmed civilians, rounded up and massacred after the
neighborhood was already under control.
The Centers for Disease Controland Prevention reported Thursday that 23 percent of high school students said they recently smoked marijuana, while 18 percent said they had puffed cigarettes. The survey asked teens about a variety of risky behaviors.
Quentin Tarantino has been a notable film maker when it comes to airing out the uncomfortable realities of race through cinema.
And Tarantino’s recent trailer for his newest film, “Django Unchained,”
is certainly going to punctuate his reputation as an unabashed maker of
film that evokes controversial commentary on how white Hollywood
directors present stories of Black history to mostly White audiences.
If she could figure out how to live in her car, Janet Sparks would.
The 52-year-old makes $11.60 an hour as a
front-of-the-store manager at a Louisiana Walmart and says she struggles
to pay for basic necessities, let alone her $600-a-month rent.
"I'm
giving it all I got, I like what I do, and yet I'm struggling so bad.
This is not what it was when I started," says Sparks, who began working
for America's No. 1 employer and discount store seven years ago.
Sparks
belongs to a loosely knit association of Walmart employees called the
Organization United for Respect at Walmart — OUR Walmart, for short.
They are prodding the giant retailer to provide better wages, affordable
benefits and reasonably reliable schedules for store employees
nationwide. Their campaign comes not only at a time when many low-wage
workers in the U.S.
are struggling to make ends meet, but also as Walmart is rededicating
itself to attracting price-conscious consumers like them — by holding
down its expenses and guaranteeing the lowest prices.
OUR
Walmart is not a labor union and lacks the right to bargain with the
company on workers' behalf. The group receives some financial and technical support
from the nation's largest retail workers union — the United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW), which has tried to organize Walmart workers
in the past.
OUR Walmart claims about 5,000 members who pay monthly dues of $5 each.
Members
learn how to stand up for themselves with store managers and about
their legal protections as workers. They try to recruit fellow
associates at their stores, and local groups hold meetings to discuss
specific grievances. About three dozen members traveled to Walmart's
annual shareholders meeting last week in Bentonville, Ark., to pass out
fliers about their cause.
In the two years
since OUR Walmart's creation, Walmart has twice raised the number of
hours that part-time employees need to qualify for health benefits. Wage
caps begun about six years ago block raises for some longtime employees
in the same jobs.
And some workers say the company's work-scheduling system limits their
hours below what they need to qualify for benefits and produces such
widely varying schedules that it's difficult to take a second job to
make ends meet.
A "Declaration of Respect" that about 100 OUR Walmart members presented to the company last June calls on Walmart to offer affordable health care, create more dependable schedules and pay at least $13 an hour, among other things.
Walmart
says the national average hourly wage for its full-time workers is
$12.40 but declined to say what it is for part-time workers. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009.
The purifying waters of Lake Minnetonka have definitely been a
fountain of youth for Prince. Today the 'Purple Rain' star turns 54 and
after all these years he's still got it.
Not only has the soulful legend revolutionized the music world, his
trademark eccentric wardrobe has never failed to turn heads. From
ruffles, to bell bottoms, to baring it all. Who could forget these infamously brief chaps?
Happy Bless Birthday to the 'Prince of Purple Rain'!
On a flat and desolate stretch of Interstate 10 some 50 miles south
of Phoenix, a sheriff's deputy pulls over a green Chevy Tahoe speeding
westbound and carrying three young Hispanic men.
The man behind the wheel produces no driver's license or registration.
The deputy notices $1,000 in cash stuffed in the doorframe -- payment,
he presumes, for completed passage from Mexico. He radios the sheriff's
immigration enforcement team, summoning agents from the U.S. Border
Patrol. Soon, the three men are ushered into the back of a white van
with a federal seal.
This routine traffic stop represents the front end of an increasingly
lucrative commercial enterprise: the business of incarcerating
immigrant detainees, the fastest-growing segment of the American prison
population. The three men loaded into the van offer
fresh profit opportunities for the nation's swiftly expanding private
prison industry, which has in recent years captured the bulk of this
commerce through federal contracts. By filling its cells with
undocumented immigrants caught in the web of increased border security,
the industry has seen its revenues swell at taxpayer expense.
The convergence of the people on the Interstate on this recent
afternoon, as well as the profits that flow from imprisoning immigrants,
are in part the result of concerted efforts by the private prison
industry to tilt immigration detention policies in its favor, a
Huffington Post investigation has shown.
In Washington, the industry's lobbyists have influenced policy to
secure growing numbers of federal inmates in its facilities, while
encouraging Congress to increase funding for detention bedspace. Here in
this southern Arizona community, private prison companies share the
spoils of their business with the local government, effectively giving
area law enforcement an incentive to apprehend as many undocumented immigrants as they can.
This confluence of forces has contributed to a doubling of the ranks
of immigrant detainees, to about 400,000 a year. Nearly half are now
held in private prisons, up from one-fourth a decade ago, according to
the Department of Homeland Security. The two largest for-profit
prison companies, Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group,
Inc., have more than doubled their revenues from the immigrant
detention business since 2005, according to securities filings.
BAY OF PIGS, Cuba
–
Sitting at a wooden table at his 3-week-old restaurant, Saturnino
Morrejon Ramos surveyed the turquoise water of this inlet on the
Caribbean off Cuba's southern coast.
"I still remember the gunfire," Ramos, 64, said,
referring to the failed, CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles to depose
the regime of Fidel Castro in 1961.
Ramos and
others like him are taking part in a decidedly capitalistic change in
Cuba in which the communist rulers have relaxed state control of the
economy to generate wealth.
Results appear mixed because of high taxes on profits and restrictions
on economic freedoms that could lead to demands for political liberties.
Ramos
is happy about the changes. The tables, chairs and kitchen of the
restaurant atop his house were bought using $5,000 worth of remittances,
or cash that the family gets from relatives in the USA.
"It's
definitely worth paying the taxes to the government because we're
earning more money," he said, admiring both the view and the fish caught
yards away that lay grilled on the plates of diners. "Everyone's
pleased the government has allowed this."
A new theory says that a wave of massive technological change gave life to organized labor -- and another wave took it all away
Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker doesn't like unions, and unions don't like him.
But the most remarkable thing about Walker's relationship to labor isn't
that he thinks unions are worthless -- most Republicans agree -- but that he thinks about them, at all.
Today, unions have been swept into dusty corners of the U.S. workforce,
such as Las Vegas casino
cleaners and New York City hotel staff. For much of the 20th century,
things were different. Almost every person living in the Northeast,
Midwest and California "was in a union himself/herself, had a family
member in a union, or, at least, had a friend or neighbor in a union,"
Rich Yeleson, veteran in the labor movement, writes in The New Republic.
The apogee of the unions was also the apogee of the middle class, when
it commanded more than half of total income. As the union membership rate dropped, middle class share of income fell, too.
So far, 2012 has
been the warmest year the United States has ever seen, with the warmest
spring and the second-warmest May since record-keeping began in 1895,
the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on
Thursday.
Temperatures for the past 12
months and the year-to-date have been the warmest on record for the
contiguous United States, NOAA said.
The average temperature for the contiguous 48 states for meteorological spring, which runs from March through May, was 57.1 degrees
F (13.9 C), 5.2 degrees (2.9 C) above the 20th century long-term
average and 2 degrees F (1.1 C) warmer than the previous warmest spring
in 1910.
