Some of you may recall the story I wrote a few months ago about the new Target in Columbia Heights’ decision not to install bilingual signs – despite the region’s concentrated Hispanic population.
People commented that it’s a trivial issue, that Spanish-speaking folks don’t need signs to find shampoo, and that I was painting Target as anti-neighborhood when really they’re creating jobs for local residents and providing valuable products.
But it’s not simply the store’s lack of signs that merited the most attention, it's how the store decided not to install bilingual signs – and how this decision reflects on the store’s expected demographics.
The Target Spokeswoman told me “the Target team surveyed Columbia Heights’ demographics and commerce trends and concluded that the store does not fit the criteria for bilingual signage.”
What kind of survey did they conduct? Did they even conduct a survey? Have the surveyors ever visited Columbia Heights? The spokeswoman could not answer these questions.
Ward One Councilman Jim Graham had no idea that Target had no plans for bilingual signs. In an official statement from Graham he told me the city would immediately look into the issue.
Well, the city didn’t think the lack of signs was trivial. Now every major hanging sign in the store reads in both English and Spanish.
Hopefully this inquiry shone light on Target’s methods of conducting demographics and commerce trends.
And I could only hope that the newly installed signs will make navigation in the store for Spanish-speaking customers easier and more user-friendly.
Timesonline reports that Llewellyn Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is dumping $500 million into The Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience – an American-style amusement park featuring a skatepark, rides, a concert theatre, and a museum.
The park is being designed by the same firm that developed Disneyland.
Werner will retain exclusive rights to the development project. He told the Timesonline:
“I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t making money,” he said. “I also have this wonderful sense that we’re doing the right thing – we’re going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit.”
Petraeus is a “big supporter” of the park, according to the Timesonline.
Does a Disneyland-style amusement park in a volatile, war-torn country reek of cultural hegemony and yet another excuse to privatize more of Iraq’s resources for US profit? It does to me.
With 89% of the referendum votes counted and a narrow 51% of the voters' support, President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica has signed on to CAFTA, the BBC reports.
Costa Rica is the only country that held a referendum on CAFTA.
CAFTA sparked repeated protests in Costa Rica, including a two-day strike by public workers last year, according to the BBC.
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Costa Rica's approval of CAFTA can be potentially catastrophic. It will privatize Costa Rica's natural resources, telecommunications, and agricultural sector, and flood the domestic market with highly-subsidized US products -- not to mention the lack of environmental and labor standards. The text of CAFTA also allowed for genes of living organisms to be patented -- allowing multinationals and pharmaceuticals to make huge capital gains off of Costa Rica's natural resources.
Alice Mathias, a graduate student at the University of Southern California film school, has an op-ed in today’s Times about balancing freedom with safety in light of today’s one-year university of the Virginia Tech massacre.
“Since the shootings at Virginia Tech a year ago, our school has made it as difficult as possible for students to put guns in their films.”
“One of my classmates avoided the permitting process by replacing a gun in his script with a banana …”
I understand the need for heightened security and proactive precautionary measures, but is putting restrictions on students’ creative work really making them safer?
Not to disparage media’s ability to influence and even encourage violent behavior, but shouldn’t students maintain the creative freedom that is supposedly enshrined to them upon entering colleges and universities?
Mathias notes the complexity of the issue and seems ambivalent herself:
“Freedom and safety are becoming increasingly difficult to balance, it’s plain to see.”
How far should safety precautions go? And should they extend into students’ projects of expression?
Reuters reports that the House will vote today on whether to postpone a vote on the Colombia free-trade agreement, which was set to be voted on under Fast Track.
"The vote on Thursday would change rules for considering the deal by eliminating a 90-day deadline for Congress to approve the Colombia trade deal."
Since Fast Track's inception, it has proven to be an undemocratic mechanism for legislators to rashly pass trade deals.
Fast track gives lawmakers 90 days to read over 600+ page trade agreements
It prohibits amendments to the trade agreements
It gives the executive extraordinary power over trade agreements, neglecting Congressional oversight
Fast Track has led to the passage of CAFTA, as well as trade agreements with Morocco, Chile, Singapore, and others.
The Fast Track process forces legislators to vote without enough time to really hash out the document. Its an expedient tool that allows the President to essentially bypass Congress.
Pelosi's call to postpone a vote on the Colombia free-trade agreement is a step in the right direction. Next Step: sending Fast Track to the grave.
How timely of Bush to seek Congress’ fast track approval of a free trade agreement with Colombia during the shame Mark Penn campaign.
Lori Wallach, Director of Global Trade Watch, encapsulated the problem with Bush’s letter to Congress in the title of her response:
"Sending Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress Without Democratic Leaders’ Nod Dooms Pact That Already Faced Uncertain Prospects Because of Unionist Assassinations, NAFTA-Style Provisions"
"This agreement will advance America's national security interests in a critical region. It will strengthen a courageous ally in our hemisphere. It will help America's economy and America's workers at a vital time. It deserves bipartisan support from the United States Congress."
But the reality of agreement's implementation is, of course, hidden behind the rhetoric.
“ … The proposed deal would, at the very least, push thousands of farmers off their lands. And, as likely, empower the paramilitary death squads that have flourished, in part through the U.S. financing of the ‘war on drugs,’ but also via the strengthening of the powerful business interests who fund some of the most violent political forces in Colombia.
Global Trade Watch’s Blog, Eye on Trade, is keeping up-to-the-minute coverage of the trade deal.
The agreement is likely to fail Congress' "fast track" approval, but the move demonstrates Bush's ignorant audacity to continue an economic model that has severe consequences for foreign and domestic workers.
On Sunday's Meet the Press, CIA Director Michael Hayden said, "If there were another terrorist attack against Americans, it would most certainly originate from that region"[Afghan-Pakistan border], according to the AP.
Hayden said the area presents a "clear and present danger".
Interestingly, the phrase "clear and present danger" was used by John Ashcroft to describe terrorist threat after Sept. 11., leading up to the 2003 Iraq invasion
Also prior to the invasion, McCain said, "Saddam Hussein presents clear and present danger to the United States of America with his continued pursuit of to acquire weapons of mass destruction."
Hayden continued:
"Operationally, we are turning every effort to capture or kill that leadership from the top to the bottom."
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Is the Pakistan-Afgan border the next region Bush plans to continue the "struggle against global terrorism"?
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing this morning on "Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium."
Witnesses testified on the evolution, culture and future of online virtual worlds. The hearing explored safety issues and the use of real currency in virtual online worlds, as well as the growing presence of educational institutions, non-profits and other real-world organizations in online virtual worlds. Most notably, Second Life.
Amazingly, this isn't the first time Congress has ventured into the futuristic virtual utopia. Last January Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) held a hearing in Second Life about the new Democratic Congress.
Some government institutions represented on Second Life:
* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration * NASA * National Institutes of Health, * Centers for Disease Control * House of Representatives * Department of Homeland Security
In a seven-page story in this week’s issue of The New Yorker, Eric Alterman (The Nation, Media Matters) writes a riveting piece about the history, evolution, and future of newspapers.
As it has been repeatedly written about, there has been a sharp decline in paper-and-ink newspapers:
Newspapers have lost forty-two per cent of their market value in the past three years
The New York Times Company has seen its stock decline by fifty-four per cent since the end of 2004
Newspaper-wide trends of budget cuts, bureau closings, buyouts, layoffs, and reductions in page size and column inches.
Young people are the driving force behind the change in newspaper dynamics:
Alterman reports that "thirty-nine per cent of respondents under the age of thirty-five told researchers that they expected to use the Internet in the future for news purposes; just eight per cent said that they would rely on a newspaper." (Ironically, as he points out, most newspaper Web sites just aggregate stories from their print editions.)
The original reporting, expertise, and foreign bureaus makes newspapers an indispensable source of information – most blogs wouldn’t exist without the major newspapers, just like this post wouldn't exist without The New Yorker. Some predict that in thirty years newspapers will exist solely online -- the future of print copy is another discussion. Leading blogs like The Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo have democratized news and raised the level of transparency news agencies are held to, but they haven’t replaced the Times. Alterman makes the great case that whatever the medium newspapers are here to stay.
This is a must-read piece for anyone thinking about a career in print journalism.
The organic strawberry farmer from Idaho who, somehow, legally changed his middle name to "Pro-Life"was denied a gubernatorial run in 2006 because his name was viewed as a political slogan.
He says he will run for the highest state office on the ballot every two years for the rest of his life, advocating murder charges for doctors who perform abortions and for women who obtain the procedure.
Anybody know of any pro bono lawyers who can help me change my middle name to "Repeal-NAFTA"?
Commemorating the 5th anniversory of a war that has killed 89,760 civilians, 3991 US soilders, and wounded 29,314, here is a list of today's must-see multimedia:
*Chilling stories form soldiers who served on the frontlines of Iraq -- much like the Winter Soldier Vietnam Testimonies in '71, and, like the '71 testimonties, the MSM ignored it.
Freelance writer and editor Nancy Nall Derringer was reading a column in the News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne by Tim Goeglein, top Bush aide, when she came across this line:
A notable professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College in the last century, Eugene Rosenstock-Hussey, expressed the matter succinctly…
She thought it was “merely a case of egregiously obscure name-dropping,” so she googled the line to see how ‘notable’ the professor really was.
Upon googling, she found that the entire sentence was lifted completely from an article in the Dartmouth Review.
After she posted her findings on her blog, she and readers of her blog searched around at other columns written by Goegien. By the end of the day, they found that 20 out of 38 of his columns since 2000 have been “cut-and-paste columns.”
Goeglein resigned less than 12 hours after Derringer’s post, she reports.
Most ironic part of this story: Goegien spelled the professor’s name wrong. If he would’ve spelled the professor's name correctly then his column would’ve been buried in google, but his spelling error revealed his plagiarism.
It’s amazing how this columnist’s journalistic career, as Derringer’s title implies, lost all its integrity in 60 seconds.
Blogs are the new everything. Just add fierce media watchdog and career-destroyer to the list.
In 2006, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act, mandating 700 miles of fencing along the Texas and California border. Chertoff, citing budget shortages, cut the fence to 370 miles. But the fence’s construction is political more than strategic.
In a 2007 hearing Congressional Henry Waxman said, “virtually every detail is being outsourced from the government to private contractors. The government is relying on private contractors to design the programs, build them, and even conduct oversight over them.”
Claiming eminent domain, the fence’s construction is going through many “landowners of modest means’” property while stopping at property of the wealthy.
The fence is planned to go through the property of Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, while stopping at a popular golf course resort then resuming on the other side of the resort.
Another example:
“The fence is going to go through my home and my son’s home, but it’s going to stop right at the edge of my property, and on the other side is 6,000 acres that belongs to a wealthy billionaire from Dallas.”
When the Observer called Homeland Security to see how they are deciding to implement the fence, “a weary voice directed queries to Michael Friel,” following an e-mail: “Got your message. Working on answers…” There was no follow up.
Daniel Garz, 76, is having his house demolished for the fence, but it stops at a neighbor’s property who "has political connections to the White House,” and, again, resumes on the other side.
“I am an old man. I have colon cancer, and I am 76 years old,” Garza told the Observer. “All I do is worry about whether they will take my home. My wife keeps asking me, ‘What are we going to do?’”
Over 5,000 Palestinians demonstrated yesterday on the main north-south road in Gaza to protest Israel's chronic shortage of food, medical supplies, fuel and electricity to Gaza. The event was organized by Hamas.
The crowd hoisted banners in English and Arabic, saying "End the siege of Gaza now", and "Your siege will not break our will," according to The Guardian.
The event was a commendable demonstration by Hamas – who usually make headlines because of violent attacks. But the human chain, despite its amazing show of Palestinian solidarity against Israel’s life-threatening blockade, did little to ease tensions along the border.
Toward the end of the demonstration, Isreali troops opened fire on two youth who set a tire on fire, injuring them both.
Other violence was reported after the demonstration when some Palestinians tried to charge the border.
The demonstration ended with heavy rain along the strip: an ominous symbol of the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Law Students from Seton Hall Univeristy's Policy Institute for Research have unearthed evidence that the CIA's destruction of two interrogation tapes was not an isolated incident, concluding that video taping interrogations has been a "longstanding government practice," according to yesterday's press release.
What does this mean? Well, that the CIA must have archives of taped interrogations. But where are they?
The study found that there could be up to 24,000 tapes of interrogations.
"Information obtained through coerced interrogations is not admissible at trial," remarked Michael Ricciardelli, student research fellow and report co- author. "The information in our report suggests that all interrogations at the Guantanamo camp are recorded. These videos can be examined to verify that all information being used in forthcoming trials was obtained legitimately."
InfraGard is a little-known FBI program that works with employees of the nation’s top corporations to help the FBI identify threats. The FBI, giving back to its trusty covert business spies, sends their 23,000 representatives daily threat warnings that the public never sees, Matthew Rothschild reports in The Progressive.
InfraGuard members were told at a meeting that during a time of an emergency they would have permission to use lethal forcewithout being prosecuted, according to a whistleblower in Rothschild's article.
“We were assured that if we were forced to kill someone to protect our infrastructure, there would be no repercussions,” the whistleblower says. “It gave me goose bumps. It chilled me to the bone.”
“There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations—some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers—into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI,” the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.
The Bush administration on Monday again asked Congress to allow oil and natural gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying $7 billion could be raised in leasing fees from energy companies, according to Reuters.
The Democractic-controlled Congress opposes drilling, and hopefully their opposition proves to actually stop such efforts. But if their track record is any indication of whether it will be stopped, then prepare for more drilling, Alaska.
If the refuge were opened to drilling, it would take about eight years before the area reached full production of around 800,000 to 1 million barrels per day, according to the Energy Department's analytical arm, Reuters reports.
Today Honest Tea—the nation’s number one selling organic tea company—announced that Coca-Cola will buy 40 percent of its share.
“We still aren’t reaching all the people we want to reach,” Seth Goldman said, founder of Honest Tea.
Can Honest Tea, a company that has been the vanguard of fair trade, organic and sustainable practices maintain its commitment to social responsibility with Coke CEOs yielding 40 percent of the company’s power?
“The risks of this kind of transaction are obvious but I’ve seen it work firsthand,” Goldman said.
Another independent business undermined by corporate juggernauts.
Admittingly, a majority of earmarks are not funding such philanthropic and worthy causes, but it's important to recognize that not all should be trashed.
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