| Callous disrespect taints a 'sacred day'
Every day we have shoplifters," Bhatia told me. "But for these kids to come from the parade and do this kind of stuff, on such a sacred day as this. . . . "
Bhatia came here from India 20 years ago and spent 10 years working two jobs to save enough money to buy a 7-Eleven store in Inglewood, then another on King Boulevard near Crenshaw. He's reconciled himself to the high cost of doing business in inner-city Los Angeles.
At the King Boulevard store, he spent $82,000 on security guards last year. He has 16 surveillance cameras streaming video to a backroom monitor. He contracts with a security firm that can summon the LAPD instantly and broadcasts periodic alerts over the store's loudspeaker to let customers know they're being watched.
Still, most of the time, he and his employees watch helplessly as shoplifters victimize the store.
How Obama Can Win
It asks, "How much longer can Iraq limp along as a failing state before it really begins to collapse?--but doesn't try to give answers. ... "Iraq ... beset with problems" sounds a whole lot better than what we were looking at a year ago. ... P.S.: The June version of Cole's catastrophism ("Surging toward disaster in Iraq")--which foillowed a brief U.S. offensive in Baquba--declared that the operation clearly committed the United States to one side in a civil war. ... Which side? The Shiite side. "In practical terms, the U.S. military was helping a Shiite government and a Shiite security force impose itself on a majority Sunni population." Given what we now know about the Sunni-empowering aspects of the surge--including the Sunni "tribal Awakening Councils on the U.S.
Students study dinosaurs at camp
A note when creating homemade volcanoes: Make sure the vinegar used to make the "lava" isn't watered down. Students and Science Central employees found that out first-hand Thursday when they attempted to make their handmade volcanoes erupt. After the standard scoop of baking soda was placed inside the volcano – a yogurt container with green clay pressed around it – a separate mixture of vinegar, liquid soap and red food coloring was poured into a cup. But after it was added to the volcano, no explosion occurred, making the employees theorize it was the soap that was halting the process. They soon realized the vinegar they were using was watered down and substituted it for a more potent solution. The students, who were off school for winter break, were at Science Central for its winter camp, Delving Into Dinosaurs.
Lifeline to Low-Income Students
White acknowledges, though, that a company benefits any time it can “provide an additional service or product to a client," and that it is in H&R Block's longterm interest if it can help its customers find their way to college. “The more educated anyone is, the higher their income, and the higher their income, the more freedom they have to start a savings program, and to be on the road to asset building." Like many research projects, it might be some time before the FAFSA research project produces the sort of verifiable results that can shape public policy. But Case Western's Bettinger says he hopes that early results might give researchers some estimate of whether increased likelihood of filling out that FAFSA influenced whether participants were more likely to enroll in college next fall, or the amount of financial aid they received once there.
Behind the Edwards Surge: Right Message at the Right Time
Much was made of Illinois Senator Barack Obama's superb speech to a huge crowd of Iowa Democrats at the mid-November Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Des Moines. Without a doubt, it helped to propel Obama ahead of New York Senator Hillary Clinton in polls conducted in the weeks after the event. But Obama's speech in November may not turn out to be the definitional statement of the fight for Iowa. What could turn out to be the most critical comment of the campaign came from John Edwards in the last debate between the Democratic contenders — and the former senator from North Carolina may well claim the caucus-night victory that is the reward for delivering the right message at the right time. It wasn't a great rhetorical flourish. It wasn't even a new statement.
Chasing Perfection (It ain't over yet)
It has been a wild year for Bill Belichick's club. They were punished by the NFL for cheating after a win over the New York Jets in Week 1 and since that time, they have been on a mission. After a busy off-season the Pats upgraded their passing attack and the results have been impressive. The combination of Pro Bowl starters Tom Brady and Randy Moss has been outstanding. Brady was named The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year and also broke Peyton Manning's single season TD pass record (click here for the Brady TD Pass Tracker) and Moss broke Jerry Rice's single season TD reception record. (click here for the Moss TD Catch Tracker). Click here for the Randy Moss and Tom Brady photo gallery. Now it's on to the playoffs. .
Rock holes fiscal rules
The pillars of what defined Gordon Brown as Chancellor have begun to look distinctly wobbly since he became premier. There was the ditching last autumn of that powerful symbol of his entente with Britain's wealth creators, the 10 per cent capital gains tax rate. And now the Northern Rock debacle is set to blow out of the water a resonant manifestation of his financial prudence, the sustainable investment rule. This was one of two so-called fiscal rules designed to stop any Chancellor from spending and borrowing too much. Under the sustainable investment rule, public-sector debt must be no more than 40 per cent of British economic output or GDP. Though Mr Brown has frequently been accused of creative accounting to prevent the rule being broken, the ratio has always been below 40 per cent under his tenure – and is currently forecast to be 38 per cent in April.
Bank emperor's biggest gamble
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In a career defined by blockbuster deals, Bank of America chief executive Kenneth D. Lewis has taken his biggest gamble yet with an attempt to rescue the country's biggest mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial.
Lewis may have become a market savior by buying the troubled Countrywide for about $4 billion in stock, and keeping the industry and regulators from the messy task of cleaning up the bankruptcy of a company that is servicing 9 million U.S. home loans with a value of $1.5 trillion.
But Bank of America must first take on billions in mortgages at a time when the nation is facing an ever-widening credit crisis, foreclosures are on the rise and the odds of a recession seem to grow each day.
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Romney campaign shines spotlight on Mormon religion
A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith. "Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin." So far, the religion issue hasn't appeared to have an adverse effect on Romney's campaign, as he and John McCain seem to be emerging as Republican front-runners. Yet, the very fact that Romney's faith has become an issue at all has prompted a response from some evangelical leaders, such as author the Rev. Tony Campolo. The day after Romney's speech, Campolo said he was "really disappointed" that Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister and Republican presidential candidate, "raised the Mormon issue." "I'm sorry that as an evangelical Christian, I have to face the fact that it has been evangelicals that have raised this issue, talking about Mormon people as though they're a cult, as though they're some group of people who are a danger to the society," Campolo said on the Dec.
Alberta green plan puts PM 'on the spot'
Canada stands to have the best economy in the world hands down due to in large part Alberta for the next hundred years if we can get it right. Believe me, no green tech is going to be as positive to our federal budget as Oil coming from Alberta and soon Sask. So you want it to be clean? Find a way to make it clean and sell it to us. Also look for it to come on the west coast and in the arctic. Its coming because liberal or conservative they both like having balanced budgets.
Posted 25/01/08 at 2:48 AM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment .
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