December 24, 2004

Change Means Fewer Students Will Be Eligible for Pell Grants The Department of Education yesterday announced a new formula for calculating eligibility for college financial aid, a move that will eliminate federal Pell Grant scholarships for an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 low-income students and force a modest scaling back of other types of state and federal assistance to broader categories of undergraduates. more....

These quotes from Bruce Taub:
-- "We're going to make sure, in this recount, every single vote counts." Democrat Christine Gregoire, Nov. 17, 2004, after the Republican gubernatorial candidate was declared the narrow winner in Washington state.

-- Christine Gregoire should "do the decent thing, the honorable thing and concede, instead of dragging this into the Christmas season with the state not knowing who the governor is." State Republican Chairman Chris Vance, Nov. 23, 2004.

-- "If you count and recount and recount and keep on counting until you finally win, what do you really have in the end? An illegitimate governorship, that's what you have in the end. It's time to move forward, that's the message." Republican Dino Rossi, Dec. 1, 2004.

-- "We're going to be going across the state demanding they make every vote count." Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane, Dec. 23, 2004, upon learning Gregoire's overall lead, after the third tabulation of ballots concluded yesterday, was 130 votes out of nearly 2.9 million votes cast.

December 23, 2004

Preparing to test-drive a silver Mercedes-Benz sport-utility vehicle one recent afternoon, Bobby Meehling chuckled sheepishly as he described himself as a "consummate consumer" who's had a pretty good year.

Consumers like Meehling help explain why upscale retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue have seen their sales soar this holiday season while discounters like Wal-Mart and many mid-price department store chains have struggled. They also help explain how the economy could grow at a healthy 4 percent this year even as it seemed stagnant to so many who had trouble finding a job or whose income did not keep up with higher costs for food, energy, health insurance, tuition and other items.

Pay is rising more than twice as fast for the top fifth of wage earners as it is for all others, and the pace of gains at the high end is quickening, according to economists' analyses of government income data through September.

The pay trends are also evident in the Washington area neighborhoods without easy access to even a Wal-Mart or Target.

Edna Jones, 33, of Capitol Heights, said her work as a security guard at a downtown D.C. office building now earns her $10.41 an hour, up from $10 an hour when she started five years ago. That means her average weekly wage has risen 4.1 percent over a half-decade, to $416.40 before taxes.

Jones, whose husband works for fast-food restaurants, said their combined income barely covers the rent on their three-bedroom house plus all the expenses involved in caring for their three children. Still, the security job "puts food on the table," she said. "It's a struggle, but I have a roof over my head and the kids have food."

Jones said her Christmas shopping will be limited to replacing the clothes her three children grow through so quickly. She wishes she could buy them more, she said, "because they've been so good." ....more

December 22, 2004

December 21, 2004

A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.

The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.

Smokey, another long time Telegraph Avenue vendor, asked me to put up his photo of Bob Fabian, who recently passed away.
So, for all of you Telegraph vendors, click on the icon for a larger view.

December 20, 2004

'Earlier this year, as Sgt. Alexander Garcia's plane took off for home after his tense year of duty in Iraq, he remembered watching the receding desert sand and thinking, I will never see this place again.'

Never lasted about 10 months for Sergeant Garcia, a cavalry scout with the First Armored Division who finished his first stint in Iraq in March and is now preparing to return.

He and the rest of his combat brigade at Fort Riley, the Army base a few miles from this town, have been working for weeks, late into the frigid prairie nights, cleaning and packing gear and vehicles for the trip back to Baghdad after the New Year.

"I figured that the Army was big enough that one unit would not have to go back again before this thing was over," said Sergeant Garcia, 20. "It's my job and it's my country, and I don't have any regrets. But I kind of feel like I did my part. Just as I was readjusting to life back home, just as I was starting to feel normal again, this kind of throws me back into the waves."'
more....

December 19, 2004

December 18, 2004

ãThe Economic Bill of Rightsä
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Excerpt from 11 January 1944 State of the Union message to Congress.

We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all÷regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

Americaâs own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.

December 24, 2004


December 23, 2004


December 22, 2004


December 21, 2004


December 20, 2004


December 19, 2004


December 18, 2004

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