"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others. . .they send forth a ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."Robert F. Kennedy
Using grade school physics of both Newtonian and Nuclear models, does anyone foresee counter currents of sufficient size to minimize/change direction of the huge 'Tsunami' roaring down on us, taking away not only our Freedom, but our Lives? Regardless if our salaries are dependant on us not knowing the inconvenient truths of reality (global warming, corporate rule, stagnant energy science) portrayed by the rare articles in the news media? I know only one - a free science, our window to Reality - that easily resolves the Foundational Problem of Quantum Physics and takes E=MC2 out of Kindergarten

Full Text Individual Post Reading

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Tornadoes Tear Through Downtown Atlanta

More Energy, More and More Intense Weather

Science, with it’s by-product, Technology, represent humanity’s extended senses to our expanding grasp of Universal Reality. Science and Technology promote an increasing capacity toward sustainable, thriving, and prosperous survival, through the extension of our senses: to see/hear/touch/move - further, closer, smaller, faster, heavier, etc.; to boundless creation of- new products, health advancement, and new realities previously unimaginable with just our physical bodies and senses alone.

Any obstruction to filtering Simple Understanding of the sciences to the masses, any obstruction to the sciences themselves, will result in a spectacular, heretofore unheard of, calamity to humanity, overshadowing all historical events, surpassing even the fables and legends.

The pending lethal evidence stands clearly before all eyes, even those without scientific training:

* The coming nuclear resource wars – byproducts of the dumber than dumb scientific energy concepts promoting the beliefs in “there is not enough to go around” & “what little there is, it’s all mine” – the 2% corporate golden greedy guts who own 98% of the world)

* Global Warming/Pollution/Ecological Imbalance threat - caused by the successful Obstruction to Energy Evolution since the late 1940’s. Energy Evolution, the highest priority to humanity’s sustainable and prosperous evolution, has broken all records in stagnation; stifled to such an extent, that more and more highly respected scientists today exemplify “The Trouble With Physics” foundational problems with preposterous models and theories, including the outlandish belief in physical "time" travel.

In StarSteps, even a fourth grader could explain the vast differences in measurement of a flat plane and a curved ball; neglecting the curve disfigures reality with a flat earth belief when the curve on the ball's surface is not considered in measurement. The extended concept of E=MC2 throws the same curve ball measurement across the micro to macro realities, through the radius of curvature concept of all natural law – a recognition permitting simple 4th grade understanding of PhD level science to filter down to the people, carrying with it the capacity to overcome any known problem today with highly advanced energy systems and greatly expanded comprehension of energy space time relationships.

March 16, 2008
Tornadoes Tear Through Downtown Atlanta
By SHAILA DEWAN and BRENDA GOODMAN
ATLANTA — A powerful tornado struck directly at the commercial center of downtown Atlanta on Friday night, blowing windows out of dozens of high-rise buildings, tossing trees and cars, and severely damaging many of the city’s landmarks, including the CNN Center, the Georgia Dome and the convention center.
At least 27 people were injured and taken to hospitals, said Capt. Bill May of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, most with cuts and bruises from flying debris.
No fatalities had been reported by Saturday morning, but crews were combing through a loft complex in the southeastern part of the city where officials said four floors had collapsed, making search and rescue operations difficult and dangerous.
Another wave of tornadoes and thunderstorms, striking Saturday afternoon, killed two people in northwest Georgia, state officials said, one in Polk County and another in Floyd County.
The severity of the Atlanta storm surprised forecasters, who broke into prime-time programming Friday around 9:40 p.m. to report that tornadoes could be heading for downtown. Thousands of people had gathered in the area for two basketball games and a dental convention.
The twister brought what was supposed to be a busy Saturday to a near-standstill. The convention was canceled, as was the St. Patrick’s Day parade and the Atlanta Home Show. The Southeastern Conference basketball playoffs were moved from the Georgia Dome to a smaller stadium at Georgia Tech open only to players and their families.
The storm damaged the roof of the CNN Center, sucked furniture out of its lobby and sent storm water into the newsroom. CNN, which stayed on the air, said that one of its computers had been pulled through a window and that dust, glass and water were scattered throughout the building. The storm wreaked havoc on landmarks large and small. Two of the Olympic torch replicas were knocked over at Centennial Olympic Park, and the large sign outside the Philips Arena was damaged. The storm blew the windows out of Ted’s Montana Grill, owned by Ted Turner, and the Tabernacle, a popular concert venue. Skyscrapers were pocked with broken windows, and billboards were twisted into skeletal scaffolds.
Brenton Young, a dentist from Shelby, N.C., had just put in his drink order at Thrive, a downtown restaurant, when street-level windows started exploding.
“People were jumping up and screaming,” Mr. Young said. “We didn’t know if a car had hit the building or what had happened. People were hitting the floor. People were running for the center. It was a chaotic three seconds.”
Cheryl Denton, also in town for the convention, said she was in her hotel when the storm hit. “It just came up all of a sudden,” she said. “We looked out the window and stuff started swirling, and it was there and gone that quick.”
Her friend Dwayne Hawkins added, “It was on the news, and it hit 15 minutes later.”
At a 2 a.m. news conference Saturday, Kelvin J. Cochran, the fire and rescue chief, said the search and rescue operation would take 24 to 36 hours.
At the Georgia Dome, where the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball playoffs were under way, players from Mississippi State and Alabama froze on the court during overtime, mouths gaping, when part of the fabric roof was torn away by the storm. Catwalks at the top of the building swayed and bits of insulation rained down, halting play and sending many of the 18,000 spectators scrambling for the exits. The game resumed after a 65-minute delay.
Cory Reavis, a 32-year-old firefighter who lives in the loft complex where the floors collapsed, said most of the damage there occurred in an area that was under renovation and not occupied. But he said he helped rescue one man in another part of the complex.
“He was sleeping and the roof collapsed on top of him,” Mr. Reavis said, adding that the man’s injuries were not serious.
Mr. Reavis and his girlfriend were in his loft when the storm hit. “We thought it was the Marta train,” he said, referring to the subway system. The noise grew louder and louder until it seemed to shake the building. “Three minutes later, it was over.”
The National Weather Service said the tornado’s winds reached 130 miles per hour and in 20 minutes cut a path 6 miles long and 200 yards wide through downtown. There was considerable damage to older trees in the area, made worse by the region’s long drought, weather officials said.
After going through downtown, the storm continued east, passing the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District before hitting and devastating a loft complex. The largely residential neighborhood behind it, known as Cabbagetown, was littered with tree trunks, smashed cars and debris, and about 20 homes were damaged or destroyed.
Not far from Cabbagetown, two men stood in a parking lot littered with cinder blocks that had once formed the walls of a two-story auto parts warehouse.
“This don’t happen too often,” said Ruben Thorpe, 50, a deliveryman for the warehouse owners, the Southeastern Auto Company. “A lot of bad weather, it goes around us. And for this to happen right here, it’s shocking.”
Laurie Kimbrell, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta chapter of the American Red Cross, said about 80 people had been taken to two shelters Friday night, 50 of whom were elderly residents evacuated from the damaged Antoine Graves high-rise apartments.
The Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin, declared a state of emergency at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, a designation needed to make the city eligible for federal recovery funds.
A spokeswoman for Georgia Power said that as of Saturday evening, about 10,000 customers were still without power in the city, along with thousands more upstate.

Toxic world fallout from Iraq invasion

"....The critics countered that the threat was an illusion, that the US was invading illegally and sought control over the region and Iraq's oil". Others recalled the United Nations world wide telecast announcement by US speaker giving the reason for the Iraq invasion - and how many women and children died and were maimed because of Iraq's WMDs, weapons of mass donkeys?

US World Image Projection - What are we Projecting? Is there a deliberate design flaw in the Economic & Judicial systems of rule and law which ignore Reality, lopsidedly benefiting corporate greedy guts? Where science and facts play second fiddle to the power of the Mouth backed by money? Is the current status quo in energy science the best 21st Century Intelligence has to offer?

There is not an intelligent being alive that could not understand Natural Capitalism with justice and economics based on natural laws, facts and unfettered science; where human life comes first and foremost, the primary factor upon which justice and profit is gaged: the greater the health and prosperity of all, the greater the justice and profits for all (simple numbers game). So who CHOKED THE SYSTEM, on top of scientific suppression of advanced energy systems from the late 1940's (Evolving Advanced Energy Systems without which Human Life Cannot Survive) ?

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and
morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

Toxic world fallout from Iraq invasion
By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent BBC News website
The war in Iraq was supposed to be over long before now.
It was not supposed to provoke a conflict between Sunni and Shia or stir up an al-Qaeda hornet's nest.
Nor was it supposed to alienate much of the rest of the world from US foreign policy, which post 9/11 was on the crest of a wave of sympathy.
It was intended, its proponents argued, to remove a threat to world peace and to plant the flag of freedom in a Middle East democratic desert.
The critics countered that the threat was an illusion, that the US was invading illegally and sought control over the region and Iraq's oil.
Bush doctrine
The Iraq invasion was also part of President Bush's doctrine of pre-emption and of his hopes for what he called the "advance of freedom".
In a speech in November 2003 he declared: "Iraqi democracy will succeed - and that success will send forth the news, from Damascus to Teheran - that freedom can be the future of every nation."
His doctrine, under which a pre-emptive attack is justified even if the threat is not critical, has been another casualty of the war.
Dr Dana Allin, Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Affairs at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said: "All three candidates in the US presidential election will move away from it in significant ways.
"To a significant extent the experience in Iraq has discredited the doctrine of pre-emption, though it has not killed it off. But the US will not naively invade again and simply hope everything will turn out OK, as seems to have happened in Iraq."
Hopes rise again
The last chapter on Iraq of course has not been written. After the recent improvements, there are claims that it will still all work out, not unlike the Korean War, which went through its own disastrous phase.

"This has to be the worst managed foreign policy of any president since the Second World War" David Rothkopf, Carnegie Endowment
The former White House economist Lawrence Lindsey, who believes the financial cost of the Iraq war is "relatively minor in budgetary terms", still hopes for the best.
He wrote in Fortune magazine: "A stable Iraqi government selected by its own people would be a first in the Arab world. It would suggest that there is a third alternative to the current choice between repressive regimes and Islamic fundamentalism."
One of those who called in 2006, not for a withdrawal but the surge, was Washington writer Frederick Kagan. In the neo-conservative bible, the Weekly Standard, he says it has worked and credits the American commander General David Petraeus and his subordinate General Raymond Odierno:
"When General Odierno relinquished command of MNC-I [Multi-National Corps Iraq] on February 14, 2008, the civil war was over. Civilian casualties were down 60%, as were weekly attacks. AQI [al Qaeda Iraq] had been driven from its safe havens in and around Baghdad and throughout Anbar and Diyala. The situation in Iraq had been utterly transformed."
The cost
However, even if the war turns out to be "winnable", its critics dismiss any suggestion that it was "worth it".
David Rothkopf, a former Clinton administration official and now with the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, said: "Declaring this to be a success based on recent improvements is like saying that a person badly disabled by gunshots has seen his wounds heal. The damage has been done.
"Bush's foreign policy has been a failure and it will be judged on Iraq. He will bear responsibility for an unnecessary and costly war that violated international law, alienated allies and distracted us from the core issues of terrorism, Afghanistan and stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
"This has to be the worst managed foreign policy of any president since the Second World War. Even if in the medium term Iraq becomes comparatively peaceful, would it be worth the cost? I do not think so."
The diplomatic fallout
As for America's standing around the world, the war alienated some major American allies, France and Germany most notably. Others did send troops after the invasion - Spain and Italy among them - but then left as public opinions at home turned hostile.
On the other hand, a number of smaller countries, many of them from the former Soviet block, saw an opportunity to show their loyalty to the US and sent contingents - the Czech Republic, Poland, Georgia and others. For them, a strong and active United States bodes well for their future security.
In turn, Britain's support for the United States has led to further divisions within Europe. These had an impact in the Lisbon treaty talks about a future foreign policy for the EU, strengthening the British determination to keep it firmly in the hands of individual governments.
The invasion of Iraq also caused alarm bells to ring in Russia. There, a new mood of hostility to the West has developed and the Russians have become wary of American power.
Nor has Iraq sparked the democratic revolution in the Middle East that Mr Bush hoped for. And the Israeli/Palestinian conflict remains unresolved.
Ironically it is Iran, with which the US shares a mutual hostility, that has emerged with greater strength, to the concern of the Gulf Arab states.
The fallout continues.
mailto:Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7293689.stmPublished: 2008/03/16 12:23:06 GMT

China issues human rights record of United States in 2007

US World Image Projection - What are we Projecting? Is there a deliberate design flaw in the Economic & Judicial systems of rule and law which ignore Reality, lopsidedly benefiting corporate greedy guts? Where science and facts play second fiddle to the power of the Mouth backed by money? Is the current status quo in energy science the best 21st Century Intelligence has to offer?

There is not an intelligent being alive that could not understand Natural Capitalism with justice and economics based on natural laws, facts and unfettered science; where human life comes first and foremost, the primary factor upon which justice and profit is gaged: the greater the health and prosperity of all, the greater the justice and profits for all (simple numbers game). So who CHOKED THE SYSTEM, on top of scientific suppression of advanced energy systems from the late 1940's (Evolving Advanced Energy Systems without which Human Life Cannot Survive) ?

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.


11:35, March 13, 2008
China issues human rights record of United States in 2007
Related News
One out of eight U.S. citizens lives in poverty More people in U.S. go hungry, homeless "Cash race" has permeated various kinds of elections in U.S. Workers' right to unionize restricted in U.S U.S. authorities improperly obtain citizen's personal information
China issued on Thursday the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007 in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 issued by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday. Released by the Information Office of China''s State Council, the Chinese report listed a multitude of cases to show the human rights situation in the United States and its violation of human rights in other countries. The report says the United States reigns over other countries and make arrogant and malicious attacks on their human rights issues, but mentions nothing about its own human rights problems. By publishing the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007, the report says it aims to "help the people have a better understanding of the real situation in the United States and as a reminder for the United States to reflect upon its own issues". The report reviewed the human rights record of the United States in 2007 from seven perspectives: on life and personal security, on human rights violations by law enforcement and judicial departments, on civil and political rights, on economic, social and cultural rights, on racial discrimination, on rights of women and children and on the United States'' violation of human rights in other countries. The report says the increase of violent crimes in the United States poses a serious threat to its people''s lives, liberty and personal security. According to a FBI report on crime statistics released in September 2007, 1.41 million violent crimes were reported nationwide in 2006, an increase of 1.9 percent over 2005. Of the violent crimes, the estimated number of murders and nonnegligent manslaughters increased 1.8 percent, and that of robberies increased 7.2 percent Throughout 2006, U.S. residents age 12 or above experienced an estimated 25 million crimes of violence and theft, according to the FBI report
11:35, March 13, 2008
China issues human rights record of United States in 2007 (2)
In the United States, about 30,000 people die from gun wounds every year, according to a Reuters story on December 19, 2007. The USA Today reported on December 5, 2007 gun killings have climbed 13 percent overall since 2002. On April 16, 2007, the Virginia Tech University witnessed the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history with 33 killed and more than 30 others injured, according to AFP. Two separate gun killings in the Salt Lake City and Philadelphia claimed eight lives and injured several other people on February 12, 2007, according to the Associated Press. The report points out that law enforcement and judicial departments in the United States have abused their power and seriously violated the freedom and rights of its citizens. Cases in which U.S. law enforcement authorities allegedly violated victims'' civil rights increased by 25 percent from fiscal year 2001 to 2007 over the previous seven years, according to statistics from U.S. Department of Justice. However, the majority of law enforcement officers accused of brutality were not prosecuted in the end. From May 2001 to June 2006, 2,451 police officers in Chicago received 4 to 10 complaints each, 662 of them received more than 10 complaints each, but only 22 were punished. Furthermore, there were officers who had amassed more than 50 abuse complaints but were never disciplined in any fashion, according to statistics released by University of Chicago. The United States of America is the world''s largest prison and has the highest inmates/population ratio in the world. A December 5, 2007 report by EFE news agency quoted statistics of U.S. Department of Justice as saying that the number of inmates in U.S. prisons have increased by 500 percent over the last 30 years. 11:35, March 13, 2008
China issues human rights record of United States in 2007 (3)
The freedom and rights of individual citizens are being increasingly marginalized in the United States, the report says. Workers'' right to unionize has been restricted in the United States. It was reported that union membership fell by 326,000 in 2006, bringing the percentage of employees in unions to 12 percent, down from 20 percent in 1983. Employer resistance stopped 53 percent of nonunion workers from joining a union, The New York Times reported on January 26, 2007. According to a report by the Human Rights Watch, when Wal-Mart stores faced unionization drives, the company often broke the law by, for example, eavesdropping on workers, training surveillance cameras on them and firing those who favored unions. In the United States, money is "mother''s milk" for politics while elections are "games" for the wealthy, highlighting the hypocrisy of the U.S. democracy, which has been fully borne out by the 2008 presidential election. The "financial threshold" for participating in the U.S. presidential election is becoming higher and higher. At least 10 of the 20-strong major party candidates who are seeking the U.S. presidency in general elections in 2008 are millionaires, according to a report by Spanish news agency EFE on May 18, 2007. The French news agency AFP reported on January 15, 2007 that the 2008 presidential election will be the most expensive race in history. The cost of the last presidential campaign in 2004, considered a peak for its time, was 693 million U.S. dollars. Common estimates of this year''s total outlay have tended to come in at around 1 billion U.S dollars, and Fortune magazine recently upped its overall cost projection to 3 billion U.S. dollars. The U.S. administration manipulated the press. On October 23, 2007, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staged a news conference on California wildfires. A half-dozen questions were asked within 15 minutes at the event by FEMA staff members posing as reporters. The news was aired by U.S-based television stations. After the Washington Post disclosed the farce, FEMA tried to defend itself for staging the fake briefing. The report says that the deserved economic, social and cultural rights of U.S. citizens have not been properly protected. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
11:35, March 13, 2008
China issues human rights record of United States in 2007 (4)
Poor population in the United States is constantly increasing. According to statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau in August 2007, the official poverty rate in 2006 was 12.3 percent. There were 36.5 million people, or 7.7 million families living in poverty in 2006. In another word, almost one out of eight U.S. citizens lives in poverty. The wealth of the richest group in the United States has rapidly expanded in recent years, widening the earning gap between the rich and poor. The earnings of the highest one percent of the population accounted for 21.2 percent of U.S. total national income in 2005, compared with 19 percent in 2004. The earnings of the lowest 50 percent of the population accounted for 12.8 percent of the total national income in 2005, down from 13.4 percent in 2004, according to Reuters. Hungry and homeless people have increased significantly in U.S. cities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report released on November 14, 2007 that at least 35.5 million people in the United States, including 12.63 million children, went hungry in 2006, an increase of 390,000 from 2005. About 11 million people lived in "very low food security", according to Reuters. People without health insurance have been increasing in the United States. A Reuters report on September 20, 2007 quoted the U.S. Census Bureau as saying that 47 million people in the United States were not covered by health insurance. Racial discrimination is a deep-rooted social illness in the United States, the report says. Black people and other minor ethnic groups live in the bottom of the U.S. society. According to statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau in August 2007, median income of black households was 31,969 U.S. dollars in 2006, or 61 percent of that for non-Hispanic white households. Median income for Hispanic households stood at 37,781 U.S. dollars, 72 percent of that for non-Hispanic white households. The rates of blacks and Hispanics living in poverty and without health insurance are much higher than non-Hispanic whites, according to Washington Observer Weekly. Ethnic minorities have been subject to racial discrimination in employment and workplace. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in November 2007, the unemployment rate for Black Americans was 8.4 percent, twice that of non-Hispanic Whites (4.2 percent). The unemployment rate for Hispanics was 5.7 percent. The jobless rates among blacks and Hispanics were much higher than that for non-Hispanic Whites. Racial discrimination in the U.S. judicial system is shocking. According to the 2007 annual report on the state of black Americans issued by the National Urban League (NUL), African Americans (especially males) are more likely than whites to be convicted and sentenced to longer terms. Blacks are seven times more likely than Whites to be incarcerated. The report says the conditions of women and children in the United States are worrisome. Women account for 51 percent of the U.S. population, but there are only 86 women serving in the 110th U.S. Congress. Women hold 16, or 16.0 percent of the 100 seats in the Senate and 70, or 16.1percent of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In December 2007, there were 76 women serving in statewide elective executive offices, accounting for 24.1 percent of the total. The proportion of women in state legislature is 23.5 percent. Discrimination against women is pervasive in U.S. job market and workplaces. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it received 23,247 charges on sex-based discrimination in 2006, accounting for 30.7 percent of the total discrimination charges. The living conditions of U.S. children are of great concern. Houston Chronicle reported that a survey by the United Nations on 21 rich countries showed that though the United States was among the world''s richest nations, its ranked only the 20th in the overall well-being of children. U.S. juveniles often fall victims of abuses and crimes. According to a report on school crimes in the United States released by the Department of Justice in December 2007, 57 out of one thousand U.S. students above the age of 12 were victims of violence and property crimes in 2005. Millions of underage girls become sex slaves in the United States. Statistics from the Department of Justice show some 100,000 to three million U.S. children under the age of 18 are involved in prostitution. A FBI report says as high as 40 percent of forced prostitutes are minors. The report says the United States has a notorious record of trampling on the sovereignty of and violating human rights in other countries. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
11:35, March 13, 2008
China issues human rights record of United States in 2007 (5)
The invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops has produced the biggest human rights tragedy and the greatest humanitarian disaster in modern world. It was reported that since the invasion in 2003, 660,000 Iraqis have died, of which 99 percent were civilians. That translates into a daily toll of 450. According to the Los Angeles Times, the number of civilian deaths in Iraq has exceeded one million. A report from the United Nations Children''s Fund (UNICEF) revealed that about one million Iraqis were homeless, half of whom were children. U.S. troops have killed many innocent civilians in the anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported on May 3, 2007 that as many as 51 civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers in one week (Karzai Says Civilian Toll is No Longer Acceptable, The Washington Post, May 3, 2007). An Afghan human rights group said in a report that U.S. marine unit fired indiscriminately at pedestrians, people in cars, buses and taxis along a 10-mile stretch of road in Nangahar province on March 4, 2007, killing 12 civilians, including one infant and three elders (New York Times, April 15, 2007). U.S. human rights records can be best described as tattered and shocking. The facts enlisted above are only a tip of an iceberg, the report says. It is high time for the U.S. government to face its own human rights problems with courage, take actions to improve its own human rights records and give up the unwise practices of applying double standards on human rights issues and using it to suppress other countries, according to the report. This is the ninth consecutive year that the Information Office of the State Council has issued human rights record of the United States to answer the U.S. State Department annual report. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]


Government Reports Warn Planners on Sea-Rise Threat to U.S. Coasts

Sea level rise and other changes fueled by global warming threaten roads, rail lines, ports, airports and other important infrastructure, according to new government reports, and policy makers and planners should be acting now to avoid or mitigate their effects.While increased heat and “intense precipitation events” threaten these structures, the greatest and most immediate potential impact is coastal flooding.." Is there a deliberate design flaw in the Economic & Judicial systems of rule and law which ignore Reality, lopsidedly benefiting corporate greedy guts? Where science and facts play second fiddle to the power of the Mouth backed by money? Is the current status quo in energy science the best 21st Century Intelligence has to offer?

There is not an intelligent being alive that could not understand Natural Capitalism with justice based on natural laws, facts and unfettered science; where human life comes first and foremost, the primary factor upon which justice and profit is gaged: the greater the health and prosperity of all, the greater the justice and profits for all (simple numbers game). So who CHOKED THE SYSTEM, on top of scientific suppression of advanced energy systems from the late 1940's (Evolving Advanced Energy Systems without which Human Life Cannot Survive) ?

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.


NYT March 12, 2008
Government Reports Warn Planners on Sea-Rise Threat to U.S. Coasts
By CORNELIA DEAN
Sea level rise and other changes fueled by global warming threaten roads, rail lines, ports, airports and other important infrastructure, according to new government reports, and policy makers and planners should be acting now to avoid or mitigate their effects.
While increased heat and “intense precipitation events” threaten these structures, the greatest and most immediate potential impact is coastal flooding, according to one of the reports, by an expert panel convened by the National Research Council, the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences. Another study, a multiagency effort led by the Environmental Protection Agency, sounds a similar warning on coastal infrastructure but adds that natural features like beaches, wetlands and fresh water supplies are also threatened by encroaching salt water.
The reports are not the first to point out that rising seas, inevitable in a warming world, are a major threat. For example, in a report last September, the Miami-Dade County Climate Change Task Force noted that a two-foot rise by 2100, the prediction of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “would make life in South Florida very difficult for everyone.”
But the new reports offer detailed assessments of vulnerability in the relatively near term. Both note that coastal areas are thickly populated, economically important and gaining people and investment by the day, even as scientific knowledge of the risks they face increases. Use of this knowledge by policy makers and planners is “inadequate,” the academy panel said.
“It’s time for the transportation people to put these things into their thought processes,” Henry G. Schwartz Jr., a member of the National Academy of Engineering and chairman of the panel, said in an interview. The 218-page academy report, “Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation,” was issued Tuesday and is available at http://www.nationalacademies.org/.
Noting that 60,000 miles of coastal highways are already subject to periodic flooding, the academy panel called for policy makers to inventory vulnerable facilities — “roads, bridges, marine, air, pipelines, everything,” Dr. Schwartz said — and begin work now on plans to protect, reinforce, move or replace on safer ground. Those tasks will take years or decades and tens of billions of dollars, at least, Dr. Schwartz said. “We need to think about it now,” he said.
The multiagency report, a draft assessment, is one of a series aimed at helping policy makers around the nation do just that. The 800-page draft, “Coastal Sensitivity to Sea Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region,” was posted last month for public review at www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap4-1/public-review-draft/. It focuses on the area from Montauk Point, Long Island, to Cape Lookout, N.C.
Produced by a collaboration among agencies that also included the United States Geological Survey, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Transportation, the report offers three estimates for sea level rise by 2100: about 16 inches a century, a rate it said has already been exceeded; about two feet, an estimate many scientists regard as optimistic, and up to three feet — something the report says would be catastrophic for wetlands and other coastal features but which is “less than high estimates suggested by more recent publications.”
The academy report cited similar estimates.
The multiagency report cited as an example the Port of Wilmington, Del. The report says that if sea level rises by two feet or even a bit less, 70 percent of port property will be affected. Meanwhile, it says, comparable sea level rise would leave almost 2,200 miles of major roads and almost 900 miles of rail lines in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and the District of Columbia “at risk for regular inundation.”
The Academy report made similar points, noting for example that airports in many large coastal cities are built in tidal areas, often on fill, making them “particularly vulnerable.” In metropolitan New York, Newark and LaGuardia are particularly vulnerable, Dr. Schwartz said.
Some experts have suggested that additional fill could be brought in to keep pace with rising water, just as many beaches are kept alive today with periodic infusions of sand pumped from offshore. But S. Jeffress Williams, a coastal expert at the geological survey and an author of the multiagency report, noted in an interview that necessary quantities of high quality fill may not be readily available where they are needed.
In that case, he said, policy makers would have to consider constructing immense systems of coastal armor or accept the need for “strategic retreat.”
As a first step, the academy report said, transportation officials must realize that climate patterns that prevailed in the past “may no longer be a reliable guide for future plans.” Instead, it said, they should incorporate climate change into their plans for capital improvements, maintenance schedules, emergency preparedness and so on.
The panel also recommended changes in the National Flood Insurance Program, a federally-subsidized program for coastal properties. Among other things, the report said the maps the program uses in setting rates are “woefully inadequate” because they do not reflect the influence of climate change.
“Part of our problem is one of scale,” Dr. Schwartz said, because climate experts are far more confident about global trends than they are about predicting local effects of climate change. “What the transportation people needed was not what the climate science could provide, so they did not talk,” he said.
The academy panel recommended that the Department of Transportation organize interagency efforts to focus on adapting to climate change.
But acting on climate threats may be difficult, the E.P.A.-led report said. For one thing, it is impossible to predict the timing and magnitude of possible impacts. It also said that “institutional inertia is a key barrier to change,” especially when officials confront decisions about “whether and how particular areas will be protected with structures, elevated above the tides, relocated landward or left alone and potentially given up to the rising sea.”

Subprime CEOs Explain Why They Made Millions While Americans Lost Homes

"...Congressional Democrats got right to the point today: How could the CEOs of three companies behind the subprime mortgage market make millions of dollars while thousands of Americans lost their homes and investors lost billions of dollars?" There seem to be two different economic realities operating in our country today." Is there a deliberate design flaw in the Economic & Judicial systems of rule and law, lopsidedly benefiting corporate greedy guts? Where science and facts play second fiddle to the power of the Mouth backed by money?

There is not an intelligent being alive that could not understand Natural Capitalism with justice based on natural laws, facts and unfettered science; where human life comes first and foremost, the primary factor upon which justice and profit is gaged: the greater the health and prosperity of all, the greater the justice and profits for all (simple numbers game). So who CHOKED THE SYSTEM, on top of scientific suppression of advanced energy systems from the late 1940's (Evolving Advanced Energy Systems without which Human Life Cannot Survive) ?


Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).


As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and
morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.


Subprime CEOs Explain Why They Made Millions While Americans Lost Homes
Three CEOs Testify About the Subprime Mortgage Collapse and Their Pay Packages
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ ABC NEWS Business Unit
March 7, 2008 —
Congressional Democrats got right to the point today: How could the CEOs of three companies behind the subprime mortgage market make millions of dollars while thousands of Americans lost their homes and investors lost billions of dollars?
"There seem to be two different economic realities operating in our country today. And the rules of compensation in one world are completely different from those in the other," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "Most Americans live in a world where economic security is precarious and there are real economic consequences for failure. But our nation's top executives seem to live by a different set of rules."
In 1980, chief executives in the United States were paid 40 times what the average worker made. They now make 600 times the average worker's salary, Waxman said.
"I think there's merit to pay for performance," Waxman said. "But it seems like CEOs hit the lottery even when their companies collapse."
But the Republican ranking member on the committee warned that he would not let the hearing turn into a witch-hunt.
Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said it is not the job of Congress to second-guess investor decisions or to help plaintiffs gather evidence for their lawsuits. He said it is fair to question compensation packages but warned that the debate should not turn into a "sanctimonious search for scapegoats."
"Punishing individual corporate executives with public floggings like this may be a politically satisfying ritual -- like an island tribe sacrificing a virgin to a grumbling volcano," Davis said.
The CEOs Testify
The highlight of the hearing came when Countrywide Financial Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Angelo Mozilo, former Merrill Lynch CEO E. Stanley O'Neal and Charles Prince, former chairman and CEO of Citigroup, took an oath and started to testify.
But for the thousands of Americans struggling with their mortgages who might be hoping for somebody to show remorse for the downturn, this was not the place to look.
The CEOs did not take any personal responsibility for the housing market meltdown. Instead, they focused on a series of other economic factors and noted repeatedly how they helped many Americans _ who might have not otherwise been able to afford homeownership _ get into their first homes.
"I am proud of the homeownership opportunities Countrywide has provided for more than twenty million Americans," Mozilo said.
Mozilo placed blame for what many now see as a recession on "an unprecedented series of economic shocks to the housing and capital markets."
"Much blame has been leveled lately at the variety of products, such as adjustable rate mortgages," Mozilo said. "Before the onset of the current housing crisis, these products were widely offered by industry because they made homes more affordable for more people and helped homeowners consolidate other, more expensive debt.
"In fact," he continued, "adjustable rate mortgages had been popular with both borrowers and lenders for many years. From my perspective, then, the issue is not so much the products, but the housing market."
None of the CEOs spoke directly about their company's roles in selling subprime mortgages.
"I am not in a position to comment in any depth on the sub-prime crisis, particularly because of pending litigation," O'Neal told the Congressional committee.
Prince and O'Neal both spoke about the difficulties they overcame to become some of the top executives in corporate America.
Prince, who was the first in his family to go to college, said he is "extremely grateful for the opportunities Citigroup gave me."
O'Neal said: "Whatever I have achieved in life has been the result of the unique combination of luck, hard work and opportunity that can only exist in this country. My grandfather, James O'Neal, was born into slavery in 1861. He was eventually able to carve out a life for himself and his family through hard work and perseverance."
They Made Millions
In just a five-year period, these three CEOs received more than $460 million in compensation.
And as two have stepped down _ with the third planning to do so soon _ because of the subprime crisis, the three CEOs have and stand to take in even more money.
This comes as the three companies recorded dramatic losses in the second half of 2007.
Countrywide lost $1.6 billion, Merrill Lynch lost $10.3 billion and Citigroup lost $9.8 billion.
When O'Neal left Merrill Lynch in October 2007, he was given a retirement package worth $161 million.
The largest component of his retirement package was $131 million in unvested stock and options. Staff for Waxman, the committee's Democratic chairman, noted that if the Merrill Lynch board had terminated O'Neal for cause he would have forfeited these stock and options because they had not yet vested.
"It is unclear why this decision was in the interests of Merrill Lynch shareholders," Waxman's staff wrote.
When Prince left Citigroup in November 2007, he received a cash bonus worth $10.4 million. The board also allowed him to retain more than $28 million in unvested restricted stock and stock options.
Mozilo also stands to make millions if Bank of America's proposed $4 billion acquisition of his company goes through.
Facing mounting public opposition, Mozilo has already said that he would give up $37.5 million of severance pay, fees and benefits linked to his expected departure after the Bank of America deal closes. He also gave up some other benefits, such as use of the company's aircraft.
"I voluntarily gave up these benefits because I did not want this issue to detract from, or in any way to impede, the important task of completing the Bank of America transaction," Mozilo said.
But he still won't leave empty-handed. Separate from his severance package, Mozilo will still keep various retirement benefits and deferred compensation already earned. Those add up to about $44 million.
He has also sold millions of dollars in stock options as his company started to face financial troubles.
The Boards Approved the Pay
All three CEOs spoke about how it was their company boards that approved their pay packages. They also all noted that their companies are now working to assist homeowners facing foreclosure.
"Executive compensation levels, particularly in the financial services industry, are driven by a highly competitive market to attract and retain talent," said Richard D. Parsons, who heads Citigroup's compensation committee and is also chairman of the board of Time Warner. "The competition for talent is especially important for a company with the scale and scope of Citi."
Harley Snyder, chairman of Countrywide's compensation committee, noted that his board was advised by compensation consultants every time it changed Mozilo's salary.
Snyder also said that under Mozilo's tenure, Countrywide's stock saw large increases and that many of the recent changes to Mozilo's contract tied pay to stock price. Those benefits would be worthless until the stock price rose.
"As with the earlier contract, we believed that this aligned Mr. Mozilo's interests with that of the shareholders," Snyder said.
But other witnesses said that the pay incentives still didn't force the CEOs to make prudent long-term decisions but just to make decisions that benefited their company and, more importantly, their stock price.
Susan M. Wachter, a financial management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, said that incentives are an important element in the subprime debacle.
"The current crisis is a textbook case of how misaligned incentives can cause markets to fail," Wachter said.
Nell Minow, editor and co-founder of The Corporate Library, which tracks executive compensation, went further saying: "There is no excuse for paying people so much for doing so little."

Revolt in Mississippi: Indian Workers Claim 'Slave Treatment'

"The workers claim they were defrauded by a Signal International recruiter in India who promised them green cards and permanent residency in the U.S. in exchange for a $20,000 fee. The workers allege that they instead received 10-month work visas, which was only enough time for them to pay off their recruitment fees. The workers also claim that Signal forced them to live in substandard housing, with 24 men crammed into a small room. The men say Signal charged them more than $1,000 a month to live in company housing."For more than one year, hundreds of Indian workers at Signal International have been living like slaves," Is there a deliberate design flaw in the Economic & Judicial systems of rule and law, lopsidedly benefiting corporate greedy guts? Where science and facts play second fiddle to the power of the Mouth backed by money?

There is not an intelligent being alive that could not understand Natural Capitalism with justice based on natural laws, facts and unfettered science; where human life comes first and foremost, the primary factor upon which justice and profit is gaged: the greater the health and prosperity of all, the greater the justice and profits for all (simple numbers game). So who CHOKED THE SYSTEM, on top of scientific suppression of advanced energy systems from the late 1940's (Evolving Advanced Energy Systems without which Human Life Cannot Survive) ?

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.

Revolt in Mississippi: Indian Workers Claim 'Slave Treatment'
Workers Call for Signal International to Be Prosecuted on Alleged Human Trafficking Charges
By JOSEPH RHEE
March 7, 2008—
Rebelling against alleged "slave treatment," some 100 workers recruited from India staged a dramatic protest at a Mississippi shipyard Thursday, claiming they had been tricked into coming to the United States.
The workers, brought from India to work as welders and pipe-fitters at Signal International shipyard in Pascagoula, hurled their hard hats at company gates and demanded a federal investigation.
The workers claim they were defrauded by a Signal International recruiter in India who promised them green cards and permanent residency in the U.S. in exchange for a $20,000 fee. The workers allege that they instead received 10-month work visas, which was only enough time for them to pay off their recruitment fees.
The workers also claim that Signal forced them to live in substandard housing, with 24 men crammed into a small room. The men say Signal charged them more than $1,000 a month to live in company housing.
"For more than one year, hundreds of Indian workers at Signal International have been living like slaves," said former Signal worker Sabulal Vijayan. "Today the workers are coming out to declare their freedom. This trafficking needs to end."
The workers have reported their situation to the U.S. Department of Justice and are calling for Signal International to be prosecuted on human trafficking charges.
Signal International strongly denied the workers' allegations. The company released a statement saying, "Unfortunately, a few of the workers whom Signal had sponsored for H2B visas and recruited have made baseless and unfounded allegations against Signal concerning their employment and living conditions." According to the statement, "The vast majority of the workers whom Signal recruited has been satisfied with the employment and living conditions at Signal."
Signal called its housing complex "state of the art" and said government inspections have "found that Signal's practices and facilities are fully compliant with the law."
The Mississippi Gulf Coast has faced a severe labor shortage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and many companies have replenished their workforce with overseas labor brought in under a guest worker plan. Human rights groups, however, charge that many foreign workers have been exploited by their employers.
"The U.S. State Department calls it 'a repulsive crime' when recruiters and employers in other parts of the world bind guest workers with crushing debts and threats of deportation," said Saket Soni of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. "This is precisely what is happening on the Gulf Coast."

Comments


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Yep, the Temporary H2B Program has been abused by quite a few tech companies recruiting people from Southeast Asia. Many come to the U.S. and "play" the system.
Posted by:electronicname Mar-8
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I bet almost everything I own that there are Americans who would gladly fill those positions. Come up here to Michigan and do some recruiting!
Posted by:kg719 Mar-8
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Well now! "Mississippi Gulf Coast" has a labor shortage at a time when unemployment is skyrocketing. Sounds like good ol' American "further my agenda" slight of hand with smoke and mirrors to me. Dunno who's really behind it. Could be the usual "catch all" villan, the Government. Could be big business, could be even bigger labor, or it could be the typical U.S. laborer who is always willing to give his best $10 worth of work for $20. Who will then take his $20 and spend it on something made in China 'cause it's cheaper, all the while screaming" buy American."
Posted by:Alchydave Mar-8
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these workers should be granted their wish to return to India. Then AMERICAN workers can be hired to fill the vacancies. How dare these companies (who are given tax breaks) bring people in from outside the United States when AMERICAN workers are willing and available to work!
Posted by:bzb42 Mar-8
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What people tend to forget is that American companies treated American citizens like this from the very beginning even well into the 20th century. This country was built by both literal slave labor and psuedo-"free" slave labor (think PA steel mills and WV coal mines, Asians and Irish building railways, etc. and the list goes on....) My own immigrant ancestors were indentured servants to British settlers. I hope that this company follows through on its promises to these workers, or it reimburses their $20k "fee" and makes their situations more dignifying. I agree with others here thinking that it is strange that so many Americans are unemployed, especially in the manufacturing industry, and this company is bringing in people from India and not people from Detroit, for example, to work there. I suppose the union issue is probably why, I don't know, but still: these Indian workers are doing what all of us are trying to do, which is to feed their families. I don't blame them for wanting to come here, and I certainly don't blame them if they were promised green cards and residency, even if they fell for the now-obvious scam this company set up. This is the 21st C and the USA is "supposed" to be setting an example of human rights and freedoms, and this company proves that we've got a long way to go to become the example we strive to be.
Posted by:va_adf Mar-8
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"Recruited" from India?!!....Sound familiar? Not so long ago, "we" recruited Mexicans....And tell me, how are we going to build-a-wall between the US and India? hum?
Posted by:sugnuFtooF Mar-8
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These workers were promised much and lied to - I believe that we may even have verbal agreement laws here in Mississippi. One of the right wing radio stations down here has been reporting on this story strictly from the company side and interrupted/tried to shut me up, when I called trying to call in on the side of these workers, eventually saying "Well, I just don't care about whatever problems some foreigners are having here." (not word for word, but almost). The atmosphere is really hostile sometimes, but I think it's vital that the folk here and around the country and world know what all goes on with these guest worker programs. We must create a society that values human dignity.
Posted by:EnkuIde Mar-8
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The company seems to be profiting from exploiting it's workforce, not exactly patriotic.
Posted by:HegeI321 Mar-8
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If you don't like the play, get up and leave. Send those unhappy with their situation back to India. Both sides sound like they were lookign for something the easy way. There are too many people here in the US that want and need jobs. If Signal is willing to pay for training, train US citizens. Don't bring foreigners over here to fill jobs.
Posted by:shakespearetobe Mar-8
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They are probably making more money and live in better --and safer -- conditions than our troops in Iraq. I smell a union.
Posted by:cahill_08 Mar-8
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No Myak they aren't because these same companies fund political campaigns. That gives them a walk. As far as the Indian workers go................. if you don't like the job then quit, walk away and go home. I think it's safe to say most of us would be more than happy to pave the way for you. See YA!!!!!!
Posted by:DKeller33 Mar-8
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There are many Americans out of work who want a fair wage. If Signal bypassed US workers to save money by bringing Indian workers here, then forced those workers to live like "slaves, the company's owners and management should be jailed for a long, long time.
Posted by:BJinChicago Mar-8
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It's really hard to believe that the whole and true story is being told, sounds like some kind of scam.
Posted by:BTL Musings Mar-7
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same old game, more money. They caught onto the union game, who cares if it destroys the Company. Unions kill more Companies but they do not care.
Posted by:migtex1234 Mar-8
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If Signal would have been paying decent wages and accomodation, there was no need for these workers to protest. In such case they would have been earning much more than back in India. $1000/month for accomodation from the workers earning $17/hr!!! SHAME on Signal International...
Posted by:guptavarun Mar-7
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My God, this is outrageous! Already good paying jobs in America are scare, and instead of giving American citizens these jobs, we import cheap labor. No wonder we don't have a middle class in America any more. Our own leaders do everything they can hurt their own people. What has happened to valuing the American worker. Surely they and companies like them are being investigated by OSHA and the state department of labor.
Posted by:myak23 Mar-7
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"Mississippi Gulf Coast has faced a severe labor shortage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and many companies have replenished their workforce with overseas labor brought in under a guest worker plan"......Some plan. They work and essentially don't get paid and the government finds nothing wrong with this? No wonder the rich get richer off of the backs of others! They probably have a no-bid government contract!
Posted by:PHVT Mar-7
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Why is Signal international recruiting workers from India when there are so many Americans out of work? They should be recruiting from all States!
Posted by:sanjor26 Mar-7
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Why are we bringing in workers from India when there are people here in the usa looking for jobs? This company should be recruiting Americans from all over the country to work!
Posted by:sanjor26 Mar-7
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"U.S. employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February," Why in the world would be be recuiting from other countries???
Posted by:805blonde Mar-7
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Why don't I believe the Signal response? This country really isn't so great once you learn how we do what we do. So many things are wrong here and getting worse.
Posted by:Anonbene Mar-7
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It has begunOh wait, it will get worse..............Give you three guess's why
Posted by:luckygal__ Mar-7
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Shame on Signal International!!!Importing CHEAP labor into this country when there are so many out of work welders/fabricators in the US!!!There is NOT a shortage of labor!!Signal International just didn't want to pay prevailing wages....where are the Unions protesting/striking/putting pressure on this comapny to hire domestic?!?!?
Posted by:Brdatwork2 Mar-7
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The "Fence Along the Border" crowd won't be pleased with this Corporate GOP America story. It is so easy to blame those who will walk hours or days through a desert to work in hot fields or chicken slaughter plants or other jobs U.S. citizens refuse to do, but Corporate Amerca will outsource high tech and professional jobs and bring in welders and pipe fitters for which U.S. laborers are seeking jobs. The Immigration and Naturalization Service under George Bush which was placed under the do less Homeland Security Czar is totally, 100% dysfunctional. The abuse of H2 visas is so commonly know and Silicon Valley which benefited the most has not spread that workforce across the nation. But we will still focus on the de facto slave labor necessary to keep our tables covered in fresh vegetables, fruit and have more to help with our elderly. It is not correct, repeat not correct for someone to cross the border illegally - but place a young man or woman trying to feed their family up against the corruption at the very highest level of Immigration and I'll defend the illegal crossing the Mexican border any day in the week.
Posted by:chapinwest Mar-7
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Admin Link: 3
guest worker plan? i live in a state with a severe job shortage, and can not remember a recruiting ad for jobs on the mississippi gulf coast, nor were there any postings on the state's unemployment web site. sounds like signal was looking for some cheap labor, and the guest workers were looking for a way to stay in the states without becoming citizens. i guess i don't really feel sorry for anybody here.

Mortgage Company Heads Grilled By Congress

"....There's a complete disconnect with reality," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. CEOs now receive about 600 times what the average worker earns, compared to about 40 times in 1980." Is there a deliberate design flaw in the Economic & Judicial systems of rule and law, lopsidedly benefiting corporate greedy guts? Where science and facts play second fiddle to the power of the Mouth backed by money?

There is not an intelligent being alive that could not understand Natural Capitalism with justice based on natural laws, facts and unfettered science; where human life comes first and foremost, the primary factor upon which justice and profit is gaged: the greater the health and prosperity of all, the greater the justice and profits for all (simple numbers game). So who CHOKED THE SYSTEM, on top of scientific suppression of advanced energy systems from the late 1940's (Evolving Advanced Energy Systems without which Human Life Cannot Survive) ?

Mild shock and disbelief barely registered in the nation of the most productive, overworked, underpaid, underinsured, vacation deprived, low paid slave/workers in the world, as they watched their bridges fall down, while their taxes, gas and energy costs continued skyrocketing to uncharted realms, as the masses stagnated in unmovable traffic, and government departments threatened to close due to lack of funds - On the bright side, the worldwide corporate 2% greedy guts, individually, had aplenty, more wealth than 30 nations combined, apiece.... irrelevant to who is paying for their errors (as in subprime loans).

As common sense in science is lost with the continued stagnation of our energy base and deep troubling theoretical foundational issues in physics, so too, Civilization's Survival Parameters fly out of sight, out of mind, along with the values and
morals inherent within new scientific understanding which new energy systems would reveal. Scientific Stagnation bodes an ill wind to evolution, sustainability, and survival as "cycles of humiliation, dumbing us down, violence, and Unrestrained Corporate Greed prompting resource wars with nuclear finality" join hands with global warming and ecological imbalance to precipitate the historical "rise and fall of civilization" - a Tsunami accelerating toward us with a far more spectacular event than the legends and myths of 'Atlantis and Lemuria"........ had more people known that Energy from Corn (or going backwards to a dimwitted concept of radioactive nuclear power application ) sounded a wee bit kindergartenish and senile for the twenty first century......the Future may have had a chance.


Mortgage Company Heads Grilled By Congress
WASHINGTON, March 7, 2008

Lenders Under Fire
Congress is asking tough questions of mortgage lenders who made millions while the many Americans who borrowed from them lost their homes. Chip Reid reports

(CBS/AP) Three corporate executives called in for a shaming by Democratic lawmakers Friday defended raking in hundreds of millions of dollars despite contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis that has their companies reeling from losses and the nation on the edge of recession. "There's a complete disconnect with reality," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. But the CEOs testifying before the committee, Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial Corp.; Stanley O'Neal, formerly of Merrill Lynch & Co; and Charles Prince, formerly of Citigroup Inc.; defended their pay as appropriate. "As our company did well, I did well," said Mozilo, founder of Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender and a key player in the subprime problem. "But when our company did not do well, as in 2007, my direct compensation and the value of my holdings declined materially, which is as it should be." Republicans on the committee generally agreed. "This is a hearing in search of bad guys," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. "All of you complied with the transparency rules and the best practices rules." The hearing was the second held by Waxman on the issue of executive pay, which Forbes magazine said averaged $15.2 million for the CEOs in the largest 500 U.S. companies in 2006, an increase of 38 percent in one year. The House Government Reform Committee last December also looked at large, publicly traded companies that hire compensation consultants who are receiving millions of dollars from corporate executives whose compensation they were supposed to assess. Republicans on the committee questioned the need for the hearing, saying it falls outside the panel's primary role of investigating waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. "The impact of corporate executive compensation is debatable," said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, top Republican on the committee. "Fine, but that debate ... should not degenerate into a sanctimonious search for scapegoats." Rep. Waxman questioned how all three CEOs could profit handsomely at a time when their companies were losing billions of dollars and stock values were plunging. "You're in the middle of an enormous debacle," Waxman said. "It seems like everyone is hurting except for you." "It's only in the wacky world of CEOs where you get severance for failing," said Nell Minow, editor of The Corporate Library and one of the economic experts testifying. Committee figures showed that Countrywide suffered a $1.2 billion loss in the third quarter of 2007 and then lost another $422 million in the fourth quarter. By the end of the year, the company's stock had fallen 80 percent from its five-year peak in February. During the same period, Mozilo received a $1.9 million salary, $20 million in stock awards contingent upon performance and sold $121 million in stock. Some of those stock sales occurred at the same time the company was borrowing $1.5 billion to repurchase its shares. In 1969, Mozilo, a butcher's son from New York, co-founded Countrywide and turned a one-room office into a $500 billion home loan empire while turning himself into one of the nation's highest paid CEOs, reports CBS News correspondent Chip Reid. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., questioned Mozilo's insistence - documented in a November 2006 e-mail - that he be reimbursed for taxes owed when his wife traveled on Countrywide's corporate jet. Mozilo related how he had started Countrywide from the kitchen of his small New York apartment. He said his direct compensation and the value of his stock holdings declined substantially last year and he had not received, and will not receive, a bonus for 2007 and 2008. Mozilo also said he would give up some $37 million in severance pay if Bank of America proceeds with plans to acquire Countrywide. His defense of his compensation may fall on some unsympathetic ears however. While countless Countrywide customers faced foreclosure on their homes, Mozilo enjoyed his $15 million mansion and a high-flying lifestyle that included an abundance of expensive perks. At the same time, thousands of Countrywide employees lost their jobs, reports Reid. O'Neal received a retirement package of $161 million when he was pushed out as Merrill Lynch CEO last October. But the committee said that if the company had terminated O'Neal for cause rather than letting him retire, he would not have been entitled to $131 million of that in unvested stock and options. During 2007, the firm reported $18 billion in writedowns related to subprime and other risky mortgages. O'Neal countered that he had received no bonus in 2007 and no severance pay. He was defended by John Finnegan, chairman of Merrill Lynch's compensation committee. "All of the $161 million related to prior-period performance and all were amounts to which Mr. O'Neal was entitled as a retirement-eligible employee." The lawmakers also asked why Citigroup, which saw its stock fall 48 percent at the end of 2007 compared with a year earlier, would award Prince a cash bonus worth $10.4 million after he stepped down as CEO last November. He also received $28 million in unvested stock and options and $1.5 million in annual perquisites upon his departure. "I'm proud of my accomplishments," Prince said, speaking of his contributions over almost three decades to Citigroup's growth and the company's efforts to assist homeowners facing foreclosure. Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, top Republican on the committee, noted that Mozilo's total compensation package in 2007 was about $22 million, half that of 2006, while Prince also saw his compensation halved in 2007 to about $12 million. Linking executive pay to the subprime crisis "only seems to muddle the issue further," he said. Several of the executives did acknowledge public resentment over the fact that large company CEOs now receive about 600 times what the average worker earns, compared to about 40 times in 1980. The question, said Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup's personnel and compensation committee, is "how do we remain competitive without contributing to something that could be tearing at the fabric of society." Reid reports that some Republicans said today's hearing was nothing more than a search for scapegoats in the mortgage crisis, arguing that there's already plenty of blame to go around, even right here in Congress.