Mar
28
2013
The Congressional Republicans who brought us the mindless budget cuts known as the sequester have shown remarkable indifference to life-sustaining government services, American jobs and other programs. So what do they make of the country’s commitments to American Indians, its longstanding obligations to tribal governments under the Constitution and treaties dating back centuries?
Very little, it seems. The sequester will impose cuts of 5 percent across the Indian Health Service, the modestly financed agency within …
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Mar
28
2013
WASHINGTON – Schools on Minnesota’s American Indian reservations are already suffering from the across-the-board budget cuts of the federal sequester, taking a hit months before the rest of the country’s classrooms will feel the effects of reduced funding.
The White Earth Reservation could cut the school year short at its federally funded tribal school.
The Red Lake School District, where the high school was the site of a shooting that left seven people dead in 2005, has …
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Mar
28
2013
The FBI’s “top priority” in 2013 is to modernize surveillance law so authorities can monitor in real time the Web activities of Americans suspected of committing crimes, the FBI’s general counsel said.
At a luncheon for the American Bar Association in Washington last week, Andrew Weissman said that a 1994 federal law designed to help law enforcement conduct lawful surveillance was not keeping up with modern forms of communication.
The law, known as the Communications Assistance for …
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Mar
28
2013
Over the past decade, the WSF has been credited with a number of important international collaborations. For example, the global antiwar demonstrations in February 15, 2003, which have been called the largest protests in history, came out of a call from European Social Forum participants. In the US, labor activists who received international attention for a successful factory take-over in 2008 at Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors factory said inspiration came from workers in Brazil …
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Mar
28
2013
TRANSCRIPT:
Laurel Erickson: No one says the folks in Compton live on Easy Street. It’s one of the poorest places in L.A. County. They’ve even talked about bankruptcy. But it may also be a place for easy money.
Lucrative contracts, unpaid loans, money for meetings that last just minutes. It’s all part of our three-month investigation into Compton City Hall.
Erickson [to Council Member Willie O. Jones]: You’re getting $7,800 a year and the city is just 10 …
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Mar
28
2013
Tens of thousands of Los Angeles County’s low-income renters could see a loss in their housing subsidy because of the federal sequester, leading to higher rent payments and a spike in homelessness, according to local officials.
City and county officials are in Washington D.C. this week lobbying to try to soften the blow of the cuts, pushing for permission to increase rents so they don’t have to throw most recipients off the program altogether.
“This is absolutely …
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Mar
28
2013
Within days of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing a challenge to an Arizona voting registration law that had been adopted as a “model” by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), two more states advanced bills that appear to track the ALEC/Arizona template.
On March 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA), which will decide whether Arizona’s refusal to register voters that do not provide proof of citizenship …
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Mar
28
2013
Davis-Cohen’s reading of the Supreme Court hearing of arguments in Bowman v. Monsanto suggests that the essential philosophical, ethical and moral questions underlying the case were not and will not be addressed by the court.
Self-replication is a requirement for the continuation of life itself. When species participate in the replication of other species – when we plant our favorite tomato, when a butterfly pollinates its favorite flower – it is said that they co-evolve. This …
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Mar
28
2013
When Michelle Obama visited a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, a few weeks ago to praise the company’s efforts to sell healthier food, she did not say why she chose a store in Springfield of all cities. But, in ways that Obama surely did not intend, it was a fitting choice. This Midwestern city provides a chilling look at where Walmart wants to take our food system.
Springfield is one of nearly 40 metro areas where Walmart …
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Mar
28
2013
KOLWEZI, Congo — One day while he was watching TV, farmer Emmanuel Tshiteta saw a news segment about people digging.
With shovels and picks, they forged deep holes, then packed the rocks they uncovered into plastic mesh bags. They carried the bags to a river to wash away the dirt, revealing handfuls of aqua-colored ore. The next day, they sold it for quick cash.
Tshiteta reflected on the small plot of land he farmed on. His …
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