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The US Department of Commerce reported a drop in retail sales for the month of July after two straight months of gains. The loss of one tenth of one percent in the rate of total sales surprised most economists. The expectation is that Americans, despite suffering from an all-time high unemployment rate, will continue to purchase products at growing …

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“Cheap Merchandise means cheap men, and cheap men mean a cheap country, and that is not the kind of Government our fathers founded, and it is not the kind their sons mean to maintain.” — President McKinley …

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Newspaper Guild Strike of 1936

Back in the day on August 13th, 1936, a newspaper guild strike was called against the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. At the center of the dispute was the firing of two long-time employees by the management of the William Randolph Hearst owned daily. Editorial staff members of the P-I believed that the real reason behind …

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Journalist and author Dahr Jamail will tell us the stories of growing numbers of US soldiers who are refusing to fight in the war in Afghanistan. And, New York Times best-selling author John Barry will return to give us an update on the state of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the Swine Flu. Plus, a conversation with Ellen Ruppel-Shell, about her book “Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.” …

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Nobel Peace Laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to eighteen months of house arrest yesterday following trial in Burma. Faced with the possibility of five years in prison, she was convicted of violating the terms of her then house arrest following a two day stay by a man from the United States who …

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Hundreds of people, from all sides of the political spectrum showed up at the Alhambra Civic Center Library last night for a health care forum presented by Congressman Adam Schiff. The event featured several medical doctors and healthcare reform advocates including NBC4’s medical reporter, Dr. Bruce Hensel, and Jerry Flanagan, the Health Care Advocate at Consumer Watchdog. Because of the …

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On July 21st, five suicide bombers attacked government sites in the eastern Afghan city of Gardez. Their targets were the city’s intelligence department, police department, and provincial governor’s house. In addition to the bombers themselves, five Afghan security forces were killed. The Taliban has made frequent use of such suicide attacks, the training for which is apparently provided by the …

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Anti-Tamil Race Riots in Sri Lanka

Back in the day on August 12th, 1977, riots erupted in Sri Lanka aimed at its minority Tamil population. The outburst of violence, which was certainly not the first such occurrence of its kind, followed the aftermath of national elections that brought the right-wing Sinhalese United National Party to power. The vote also …

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“When liberty comes with hands dabbled in blood, it is hard to shake hands with her.” — Oscar Wilde …

Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi is delivered a verdict by the ruling junta. John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus analyzes the phenomenon of suicide bombing, Eastern and Western. And sounds from Congressman Adam Schiff’s health care forum in Alhambra in our on-going coverage of healthcare reform. Plus this week’s Who Said That contest. …