BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A TEMP JOB?
While unemployment rates in the U.S. have shown some improvement, with less than 9% of the work-force unemployed on a “given day,” this measure of unemployment masks the fact that over 13% of workers and their families will face a period of non-employment during some part of the year. This results largely from the practice of many companies of hiring temporary workers, whom they can employ at lesser wages and without the necessity of having to pay “benefits”: the kind of employment policy now drawing protests at WalMart and other companies that practice it.
(Alternet)
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CONFLICT IN SYRIA IS INCREASINGLY A SECTARIAN CIVIL WAR RATHER THAN A PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTEST.
U.S. and other foreign support for Syrian rebels is largely promoted on the basis of their rebellion being part of the Arab Spring revolt against autocratic dictators and “regime change” is their projected goal. A new UN civil rights report describes a very different evolution of the conflict, as it notes a massive move of Sunni Islamists into the ranks of the rebels, and with this an increasingly violent attack on the Allawite minority in the country and a determination to establish Sunni dominance.
(Boston Globe)
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UN: WE MEANT WHAT WE SAID WITH ARTICLE 49 OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION.
That 1949 article forbids a country from settling its own citizens into occupied territories, which is exactly what Israel did and continues to do after its seizure of the West Bank in 1967 with the U.S. having vetoed numerous resolutions condemning Israeli actions in violation of that Article. With the non-aligned nations now making demands on behalf of Palestinian rights and the UN having recognized Palestine itself as a non-voting observer member of the UN, the U.S. State Department is starting to make rhetorical condemnations of Israeli policy, and yet to persist in its actions of subverting implement ion of Article 49.
(Counterpunch)
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JOBS, JOBS IN MONTANA SHALE OIL MINING MEANS DANGER, DANGER FOR NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN.
Abduction and murder of popular young teacher, allegedly at the hands of “drifters” seeking oil friend employment, highlights the pervasive fear that the influx of oil workers into a small community near the Fort Peck reservation will create many problems for local people. At two local schools, women line up for lessons on how to carry cans of mace and alarm whistles to fend off aggressive attacks.
(Indian Country Today)
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IN KEY WEST ONLY THE “NEEDY DEAD” GET A BURIAL AT PUBLIC EXPENSE.
As Key West officials prepare a year-end ceremonial in honor 51 homeless or indigent people who had died during the year but whose bodies were unclaimed by anyone, Key West Citizen describes some of the county’s practices with reference to such burials. Cremations and burials are provided by Monroe County’s Social Services office, but the Director of that agency has to investigate each case to determine whether, in fact, there are no private associates of the deceased who are able to bear those expenses.
(Keys News)
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Quote of the day…
Two things not long for this world are dogs that chase cars and politicians who deceive and cheat the people. Already, Michiganders are organizing a petition drive for another referendum to overturn the law and return the Czardom of Michiganistan back to democratic rule. Stay tuned.
Jim Hightower, on action of Governor Rick Snyder and GOP-dominated legislature in ramming through a union-busting bill despite public disapproval.
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