by Jack Lee
In the news….
Unemployment: Unemployment is creeping upwards towards 11%, although first time filers for unemployment has dropped. The good news is layoffs appear to be slowing, the bad news is there are no jobs being created.
Welfare: Gov. Schwartzeneger says $1.5 billion can be saved by limiting payments to California’s workfare program to just those recipients who actually comply with the terms of the program. He said they need only work a few hours and attend two meetings a year, but apparently this is too much for some people.
School Funds Abused: San Francisco City College Chancellor, Phillip Day Jr., is charged with 8 felony counts for misappropriating school funds. Day is charged with diverting over $70,000 into various liberal political campaigns and for liquor for private parties. Two current associate vice chancellors at the school are also facing charges in the case. “Misusing public funds and laundering money for political purposes are serious offenses that jeopardize the integrity of the political process and weaken the public trust,” said D. A. Harris. Day now heads the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators in Washington, D.C.
Congressional Lying: A letter from seven Democrats to CIA Director Leon Panetta, which reveals that Panetta told Congress that the CIA “concealed significant actions from all Members of Congress, and misled Members for a number of years from 2001 to this week.” Sam Stein confirms that the issue that the CIA allegedly mislead Congress over is enhanced interrogation. The CIA has issued something of a non-denial denial, stating that “This agency and this director are committed to a candid dialogue with Congress. When Director Panetta believes something should be raised with the Hill, it gets done quickly and clearly. Our oversight committees recognize that.”
President: Barrack Obama approval rating has slipped to 56% according to the Gallop polls. To put this into perspective, just a year ago President Bush’s poll numbers were at 29% approval.
Strange Lawsuit: ADA lawsuits have shut down the Squeeze Inn in Sacramento. The owner of a tiny, but famous Sacramento burger joint said a lawsuit about handicapped access could shut him down permanently. The Squeeze Inn, known for huge mounds of melted cheese on its burgers, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the lawsuit alleges. Kimberly Block stands to make a pile of money by suing, whines that she has severely limited use of her legs and argues she has suffered “embarrassment and humiliation” and that her “civil rights” were violated because of inadequate access inside the Fruitridge Road restaurant. Travis Hausauer, owner of the Squeeze Inn, said he doesn’t have the time or the money to make the changes. He said he made the patio ADA compliant since last year because of another lawsuit, but he said it could take tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars to make the changes.
“It’s just not right — it’s called the Squeeze Inn because it’s small,” a longtime customer said.
North Korea Attacks: A recent spate of Web site outages has tech people pointing their fingers at North Korea – US infrastructure was attacked and many critical websites were shutdown, including many federal sites and the NASDAQ stock exchange site. North Korea, which has been firing missiles and spewing threats against the United States, was identified as the main suspect in the cyber attacks targeting government and other Web sites in the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea is not known for its computing prowess, but experts said such attacks would be easy — and cheap — to mount by hiring outside help, i.e. China. The attacks, which began in the U.S. over the July 4 U.S. Independence Day holiday weekend and in South Korea on Tuesday, were thoroughly prepared and appeared to have been committed by hackers “at the level of a certain organization or state,”
In early April, Pyongyang fired a long-range rocket it said was a satellite but that landed in the Pacific Ocean after flying over Japan. Later that month it threatened to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile and in May carried out an underground nuclear test, its second since 2006.
Last month, the North threatened a “thousand-fold” military retaliation against the U.S. and its allies if provoked.
On July 4, North Korea fired seven missiles in the direction of Hawaii, but the missiles were only short range and traveled less than a 100 miles.