April 3, 2013

Latino Men Thrown in Jail for 39 Days -- No Charges, No Hearing, No Probable Cause

Courthouse News / By Cameron Langford

Texas Sheriff Threw Latino Men in Jail for 39 Days -- No Charges, No Hearing, No Probable Cause
Jail for breathing while brown in Texas.

April 2, 2013 |


WACO, Texas (CN) - A Texas sheriff threw two Latino men into jail for 39 days "with no charges, no hearing, and no probable cause" and seized the $14,000 they had saved up to buy a new car, the men claim in Federal Court.

Roberto Moreno-Gutierrez and Jaime Moreno-Gutierrez sued Hill County, the Hill County Sheriff's Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, in Federal Court. Hill County, whose seat is Hillsboro, is between Waco and Dallas.

"On March 31, 2011, plaintiffs Roberto Moreno-Gutierrez and Jaime Moreno-Gutierrez left their home in Killeen, Texas and were traveling to a car dealership in Plano, Texas to purchase a vehicle, specifically a 2007 Nissan Maxima Hybrid Electric Vehicle," the complaint states.

"Defendant Jaime Moreno-Gutierrez, having sold a prior vehicle, a 2004 GMC Envoy, for nine thousand and no/100ths ($9,000.00) dollars, part cash and part check and combining his money with a loan of four thousand and no/100ths ($4,000.00) dollars, had gathered together over fourteen thousand and no/100ths ($14,000.00) dollars in cash and checks for the purchase, which is confirmed by Hill County Jail property receipts." ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/texas-sheriff-threw-latino-men-jail-39-days-no-charges-no-hearing-no-probable-cause

April 3, 2013

Felony Charges Dropped Against Colin Small, Republican Accused Of Destroying Voter Registration Form

WASHINGTON -- Eight felony charges against Colin Small, the Republican contractor accused of destroying voter registration forms, were dismissed by a Virginia judge on Tuesday. The judge dismissed the felony charges under a probable cause standard during a preliminary hearing, Small's lawyer said.

Small, 23, tossed eight voter registration forms into a dumpster in October 2012, when he was working to register voters on behalf of the Republican Party of Virginia. Though the felony charges of failing to disclose voter registration applications have been dropped, Small is still facing four misdemeanor counts of destruction of voter registration applications and one misdemeanor count of obstruction of justice. Court records show he is due back in court on April 16.

Prosecutors alleged that by throwing out voter registration forms that contained Social Security numbers, Small had "disclosed" the records, which is a felony.

"There was zero evidence that he had ever used or disclosed anyone's Social Security number, and the Commonwealth theory of their case was because he threw the registrations … in the dumpster, that it was foreseeable that someone would go through the dumpster and find them and possibly use the Social Security numbers," Small's lawyer, John Holloran, told HuffPost. "The judge rejected that theory." ......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/colin-small-voter-fraud_n_3001802.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

April 3, 2013

Richard Wolff: Economics and Capitalism

Listen to the Podcast: http://www.democracyatwork.info/radio/2013/03/economics-and-capitalism/


Economics and Capitalism

Updates on Cyprus’s extreme austerity, equal justice and markets,falling job quality, and capitalism’s impact on China. In-depth discussions of how worker coops can get needed capital and on basic flaw in economic education at college and university levels. Response to listeners’ questions on printing money and inflation and on teachers’ self-directed schools.

April 3, 2013

At World Social Forum: Unity and Dissent Within Global Movements

At World Social Forum: Unity and Dissent Within Global Movements

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 13:21
By Jordan Flaherty, Truthout | Report


An estimated 50,000 people from 5,000 organizations in 127 countries spanning five continents participated in the World Social Forum in Tunisia over the past week. By choosing to come together in Tunis, this year's forum evoked the spirit of the 2011 revolt that inspired uprisings around the world. But the annual convergence also raised questions about the trajectory of these movements, as well as the continued relevance of the World Social Forum process.

The WSF, which started in Brazil and has featured appearances by Hugo Chavez and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the past years, has been credited with helping to build and consolidate a broad left in South America and establish connections and shared strategy between movements around the world. However, the WSF has always been divided. There are frequent protests against the forum from within - notably in 2007 in Nairobi, when protestors took over a food stand that they said symbolized a corporate sellout by the forum and a lack of accessibility to locals without means - as well as struggles by leadership over its direction.

The contradictions and conflicts of the Arab Spring were on full display. While one group held a session on strategies for overthrowing the Syrian government, there was a rally nearby in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Elsewhere in the forum, arguments broke out over whether Libya was better off without Muammar Gaddafi.

While many spoke of Islamic political movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood as regressive forces, others saw political Islam as part of an anti-imperialist front. Reflecting the importance of these debates, hundreds lined up to hear remarks by Tariq Ramadan, a professor of contemporary Islamic studies and major figure in the debate on the role of Islam in the West. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/15464-world-social-forum-highlights-both-unity-and-dissent-within-global-movements

April 3, 2013

Guantanamo Bay prison plans expansion, while CIA official linked to torture cover-up gets promoted

from Rolling Stone:



By John Knefel
April 2, 2013 3:00 PM ET


During the George W. Bush years, two of the most controversial elements of what was then called the Global War on Terror were the CIA's rendition, detention and interrogation (RDI) program and the creation of the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay. The RDI program included waterboarding and other forms of torture, as well as so-called black site prisons where detainees were held incommunicado after being abducted by the CIA, and sometimes tortured by members of the host country's security forces.

Guantanamo Bay and the RDI program are both back in the news now, each for their own unsavory reasons, and their reemergence should be a reminder of how fully the Obama administration has embraced the logic underpinning the Bush regime's response to 9/11. The Pentagon is now requesting nearly $200 million for Guantanamo Bay infrastructure upgrades, including $49 million for a new unit for "special" prisoners – likely the so-called high-value detainees currently housed at Camp 7, which include self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The Pentagon's reasoning is that neither the president nor Congress have any plans to close the prison anytime soon, so these repairs are necessary.

This massive capital request comes as detainees are engaged in an increasingly dire hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention and to signal their lack of hope for transfer or release. Instead of closing Guantanamo Bay, the Obama administration stands poised to do the very opposite – pour more money into what is already the country's most expensive prison.

Meanwhile, participation in the CIA's controversial RDI program has resulted for at least one person not in prosecution or professional sanctions, but rather in a promotion. For the last several weeks, an unnamed woman has been acting director of the National Clandestine Service – the part of the CIA that runs spying and covert operations, including the CIA's drone program – as first reported by the Washington Post. This is the first time a woman has held that position. But this particular woman was a major figure in the RDI program, once ran a black site prison, and has been linked to the destruction of interrogation tapes that almost certainly documented the CIA's use of torture. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/symbols-of-bush-era-lawlessness-flourish-under-obama-20130402#ixzz2POyrcFZk

April 3, 2013

Marlins tickets or a $5 Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready pizza?

April 2, 2013

Robert Parry: Crazy Gun-Toting Insurrectionists

from Consortium News:


Crazy Gun-Toting Insurrectionists
March 31, 2013

Exclusive: Just a few months after 20 first-graders were mowed down by a deranged killer wielding an assault rifle, the prospects of restraining this gun madness are fading. A major factor is the Right’s success in promulgating a bogus history of what the Framers were doing with the Second Amendment, writes Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry


Tea Partiers and their Libertarian allies fancy themselves the true protectors of the Constitution, but they consistently demonstrate profound ignorance of what the Framers were doing and why. It’s as if they are all summa cum laude graduates of Glenn Beck’s unaccredited online university.

Their sloppy history might not be a matter of particular concern if the consequences weren’t so severe, such as how it has frustrated common-sense gun control by promoting a false interpretation of the Second Amendment – that the Framers wrote it because they wanted individual Americans to be heavily armed so they could kill representatives of the U.S. government.

A common view on the Right – and among a few on the Left – is that the Framers, having emerged from a war against the British Crown, wanted to arm the American people so they could battle the “tyranny” of their own Republic. This wacky interpretation has fed an insurrectionist mood in some circles, where these modern extremists assert that the elected government of the United States must be resisted through violence and that no limits on gun ownership can be tolerated, that citizens must be armed to a level comparable to the government’s police and military.

It doesn’t seem to matter that George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and other key Framers considered the creation of a Republic led by elected leaders to be the best protection against “tyranny” – and that the Constitution’s intricate system of checks and balances would further shield the country from the possibility of tyrannical leadership. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/03/31/crazy-gun-toting-insurrectionists/

April 2, 2013

Course Load: The Growing Burden of College Fees

by Marian Wang
ProPublica, March 29, 2013, 1:23 p.m.


At the University of California Santa Cruz, where tuition runs to nearly $35,000 for non-residents, students every year pay more than 30 additional fees — including a small charge for what's billed as "free" HIV testing. Students at Oklahoma State University pay a handsome sum to attend one of the state's flagship schools, but they are also responsible for covering 18 different fees, including a "life safety and security fee."

The $100 "globalization fee" at Howard University is listed — without explanation — in the school's tuition and fees brochure. A school spokeswoman said the fee "supports internationalization initiatives" such as study abroad. Students pay the fee even if they have no intention of studying abroad themselves.

Worcester State University in Massachusetts, however, might have one of the most arresting fees. Students fortunate enough to be admitted face the challenge of paying the required tuition. But before they step foot on campus, they also will be hit with a fee to, well, step foot on campus. A portion of the school's "parking/pedestrian fee" goes to the upkeep of the sidewalks on campus.

Student fees have been something of a known irritant for years, often criticized as a kind of stealth, second tuition imposed on unsuspecting families. But such fees are still on the rise on many campuses. And though their names can border on the comical — i.e., the "student success fee" — there's nothing funny about how they can add up. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.propublica.org/article/course-load-the-growing-burden-of-college-fees

April 2, 2013

MARTA bucks national trend: Ridership keeps falling

from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:



Eduardo Schoen rode MARTA until last month when he joined a trend that has plagued the transit agency for years. He jumped back in his SUV, making him one of thousands of former MARTA riders to give up on public transportation in recent years.

Until last month the 40-year-old Milton resident rode the bus to the North Springs station to catch a train to his job at AT&T in Midtown. He found it an economical, stressless commute. That was until late buses and trains too often caused him to miss connections and often added nearly 30 minutes to his trip.

“I would rather use that time for family than sitting in a bus stop in the cold,” he said. “I enjoyed riding MARTA. It is too bad I had to give it up.”

Unlike most public transit systems in the United States, last year, MARTA continued a downward spiral in declining ridership at a time when that trend should be turning around: the economy is improving; the younger Millennials favor transit more than older Baby Boomers or Gen Xers; gas prices remain high. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.myajc.com/news/news/marta-bucks-national-trend-ridership-keeps-falling/nW73W/

April 2, 2013

Wal-Mart Customers Complain Bare Shelves Are Widespread

(Bloomberg) More than 1,000 e-mailed complaints signal that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s (WMT) restocking challenges are more widespread than the world’s largest retailer has said.

Wal-Mart customers from Hawaii to Florida and from Texas to Vermont wrote to express their frustration after Bloomberg News reported March 26 that there aren’t enough workers in the stores to keep shelves stocked, cash registers manned and shoppers’ questions answered. In response to the original article, Brooke Buchanan, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said in part: “The premise of this story, which is based on the comments of a handful of people, is inaccurate and not representative of what is happening in our stores across the country.”

The e-mails began arriving shortly after the article was published and were still coming a week later. Most were from previously loyal Wal-Mart customers befuddled by what had happened to service at a company they’d once admired for its low prices and wide assortment. Many said they were paying more and driving farther to avoid the local Wal-Mart. Some had developed shopping strategies, including waiting until the last minute to grab ice cream, lest it melt in the lengthy checkout lines.

Wal-Mart founder “Sam Walton must be rolling over in his grave to see what has become of his business,” said Tony Martin, a 54-year-old forklift driver who once frequented a Wal- Mart store in Glen Carbon, Illinois. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-02/wal-mart-customers-complain-bare-shelves-are-widespread.html