Wal-Mart: Life, Liberty, The Pursuit of Freedom to Allow Mobs to Trample Your Employees to Death

Submitted by lorinpda on Sun, 07/11/2010 - 09:57

by Abby Zimet

Published by CommonDreams.org  Read more »

How comfy: Daley helps Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart recognizes Daley for green policies

Submitted by lorinpda on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 16:35

By Blair Kamin - Published in Chicago Tribune CityScapes Blog

Post recommended by Tom Shepherd (Pullman Six).

Chicago--city of broad shoulders and endless back-scratching.

We couldn't help but notice that less than a week after Mayor Richard Daley muscled through City Council approval for the construction of Chicago's second Wal-Mart, the city's Department of Environment sent out a news release touting an environmental award that Daley received from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and (you guessed it) Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.  Read more »

Why Teachers Unions Are Fed Up with Obama

Submitted by lorinpda on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 11:29

By David Dayen

Published at FireDogLake.com

What’s Up with All the Teacher Bashing?

Submitted by lorinpda on Wed, 07/07/2010 - 07:25

Following is an editorial published and written by the Editors of Rethinking Schools

It’s hard not to take it personally: A few months ago, the cover of Newsweek consisted of 11 sentences in chalk on a blackboard. They all said the same thing: “We must fire bad teachers.” Big yellow text in the center called it “The Key to Saving American Education.”

Teachers have always been devalued in the United States, but in the past months the pace and intensity of the attacks have escalated sharply. Spurred by the June 2 deadline for the second round of Race to the Top, states have raced to fire more teachers, tie pay and evaluation to student test scores, close or reconstitute more schools, and disempower teachers’ unions and teaching as a profession—trampling teachers, students, and communities in the process.  Read more »

Walmart CEO Pay: More in an Hour Than Workers Get All Year?

Submitted by lorinpda on Sat, 07/03/2010 - 07:45

by  ALICE GOMSTYN 

Published by ABC News

Walmart Executive-Worker Pay Gap Strikes Chord in Chicago and Beyond

By Ed Smith's math, the CEO of Walmart earns more in an hour than his employees will earn in a year.

Smith, an alderman in Chicago, presented posters at a city council meeting showing that Walmart CEO Michael Duke's $35 million salary, when converted to an hourly wage, worked out to $16,826.92. By comparison, at a Walmart store planned for the Windy City's Pullman neighborhood, new employees to be paid $8.75 an hour would gross $13,650 a year.  Read more »

Why is the news media comfortable with lying about science?

Submitted by lorinpda on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:24

Published at Ars Technica by John Timmer

The year is only a couple of weeks old, but it's already been a strange one for science news. With a steady flow of coverage on a huge range of complex subjects, it's easy for things to go wrong, and for journalists to come up with material that doesn't get the science right. But a few recent cases appear to involve news organizations that have gone out of their way to get a science story wrong. The news industry tends to respond badly to cases where people make up the contents of their stories—witness Jayson Blair and the fake Bush National Guard records. But, so far, the response to the recent science news-related events has been complete indifference.  Read more »

Wal-Mart Struggles to Expand in Chicago

Submitted by lorinpda on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 13:02

Published by Chicago News Cooperative/New York Times
Written by Dan Mihalopoulos and Katie Fretland

In the room behind the City Council chambers during the Jan. 13 meeting, a high-ranking Wal-Mart official asked Mayor Richard M. Daley if he was committed to the company’s plans to expand beyond its only store in Chicago.

Mr. Daley replied with a curt profanity and walked away, according to a source who witnessed the exchange but did not want to be identified for fear of angering the mayor.

The mayor’s response at that meeting revealed his frustration over a rare instance in which he has been unable to get the council to support his position. Although Mr. Daley has voiced support for more Wal-Mart stores in the city for years, the world’s largest retailer is still unable to break ground on more outlets.  Read more »

Progressives and the Democratic Party

Submitted by lorinpda on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 12:48

Published by The Real News Network

Jeff Cohen is a media critic and lecturer, founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, where he is an associate professor of journalism. Cohen founded the media watch group FAIR in 1986. He speaks here with Paul Jay:

   Read more »

Families endure health care ‘crucible of pain’

Submitted by lorinpda on Sat, 01/30/2010 - 14:26

Original Publisher Peoples World written by Juan Lopez

My 88-year-old mom, who fell and broke her arm some eight weeks ago, had to endure a two-pronged battle - with herself and with the health care system.

I suspect that her story, while not tragic, is more commonplace than generally recognized. But, as with other common experiences, it carried the potential for tragedy.

After less than a week in the hospital, she was sent home with her arm in a sling. No need for surgery. It was a clean break, the arm would heal on its own.  Read more »

Calif. Senate approves single-payer health care

Submitted by lorinpda on Thu, 01/28/2010 - 20:07

Published by RGJ.com National News By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- The California Senate approved creating a government-run health care system for the nation's most populous state on Thursday, ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Supporters said it is time for state legislatures to take up the debate as the Obama Administration's national health care proposal falters in Congress.  Read more »