"Justice" is harsher and more people find themselves behind bars in America than any other wealthy country. As a percentage of population, the United States imprisons five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany, and and whopping 12 times more than Germany. Why is this? For starters, sentences are too harsh, too many actions are deemed criminal that should be legal, and laws on the books are so vague that it is difficult for the average citizen to even know if they've broken the law.
"A House panel has approved a measure that would legalize online gambling and put the increasingly popular Internet-based activity under federal regulation, Dow Jones ($) reported Thursday. The House Financial Services Committee voted 41-22 to approve the legislation, which now could be brought to the floor by the House Democratic leadership. Democrats could bring forth the measure as an addition to a larger bill later in the year rather than as a stand-alone one, aides said. Online gaming Web sites could return to U.S. soil if the bill is passed. Currently, games such as online poker are banned, and though many Americans engage in it, the companies are stationed in other countries. PokerStars.com, the largest site, is based on the Isle of Man. The second-largest site, FullTiltPoker.com, is run out of the United Kingdom. In 2006, Congress passed the Safe Port Act, which included a provision known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). It banned "unlawful internet gambling" and made it illegal for banks and credit-card firms to transfer funds to online-gambling companies. The financial sector says it effectively requires them to play police cyber transactions."
"Vice President Joe Biden met with state and local government officials from across the country last year to provide guidance on spending federal stimulus funds. Biden implored local leaders to focus on only essential infrastructure needs that will put people back to work and to avoid frivolous projects: “No swimming pools! No tennis courts! No golf courses! No Frisbee parks!”
"A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown. The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents — including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws. The judge also put on hold parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton ruled that the controversial sections should be put on hold until the courts resolve the issues. The ruling came just as police were making last-minute preparations to begin enforcement of the law at 12:01 a.m. Thursday and protesters were planning a large demonstrations to speak out against the measure. At least one group planned to block access to federal offices, daring officers to ask them their immigration status."
"The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.
"Rafael Dominguez, a New York-based regional partnership coordinator for the US Census Bureau since early 2008 has filed a petition to run as a Democrat for Assemblyman for New York’s 82nd District. Yet, as Census Bureau Associate Director Steve Jost recently commented on a MyTwoCensus.com post, the Hatch Act, “prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activities while on duty.”
The residents of Bell, CA are not ready to forgive and forget their city council members for their unprecedented swindling just yet. It seems absurd that the council members could think that simply reducing their gargantuan salaries would sooth their constituents' anger over years of being taken advantage of. Residents of Bell clearly don't want to see one more dime of their tax money go into the pockets of these con-artists.
The unusual experiment is part of Berkeley's annual "On the Same Page" orientation program, which, according to the university, is designed to "engage incoming students with our faculty in deep and meaningful discussion about important societal issues." The project has already been sparking such a debate, but the initial backlash has, by officials' own admission, caught the university by surprise, which doesn't say great things about the folks running this program.
"WikiLeaks is a website that posts formerly secret documents online in what its members say is the pursuit of transparency and accountability. Its release of more than 75,000 U.S. Army and Marine Corps documents chronicling six years of events in Afghanistan has angered officials in Washington, Britain and Pakistan.
"In the first test of voter sentiment after May's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters, Thailand's ruling Democrat Party won a by-election in Bangkok on Sunday. Less than an hour after poll results were announced, a bomb exploded at a bus stop in the city center, killing one and injuring ten people as political violence and a State of Emergency, originally invoked during the May disturbances, continued in force. On Monday, an army general said he believed the bomb was unrelated to the election.
America is one of many countries that forbid openly gay people to serve in the military. Others are: Cuba, China, Egypt, Greece, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey and Venezuela.Read More
Many of the wonderful-sounding ideas that have been tried as government policies have failed disastrously. Because so few people bother to study history, often the same ideas and policies have been tried again, either in another country or in the same country at a later time-- and with the same disastrous results.Read More
Can anyone tell me why suddenly race is the hot topic of national discourse?Read More
Credit card fraud is a serious problem. But race card fraud is an even bigger problem.Read More
