Friday, February 11, 2011

Mubarak resigns, hands power to military

CAIRO — Egypt's vice president says Hosni Mubarak has resigned as president and handed control to the military.

Car horns were heard around Cairo in celebration after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV on Friday. Read More

Thursday, February 10, 2011

African American-Owned Businesses on the Rise

The number of black-owned businesses in the U.S. increased by 60.5% to 1.9 million between 2002 and 2007, more than triple the national rate according to U.S. Census data released Tuesday. The number of businesses across the country increased by 18% in the same amount of time.

Black-owned businesses, which are defined by the government as firms with African-American owners holding a 51% or larger stake in the business, raked in $137 billion in sales and receipts and made up 7.1% of businesses nationwide in 2007, compared to 5.2% in 2002. Read More

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

We showed you the Money, Now show us the Jobs!



US Stock Market's Bullish Run Continues

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, continues to rally.

US interest rates are low and corporate profits are up. This environment is usually good for the stock market and this time is no different. This daily chart of the US30, which is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, shows a strong uptrend that shows no sign of slowing.
Yahoo News On Tuesday February 8, 2011, 8:39 am EST


Well, seems as if USA is open for business once again. Somehow, the so-called socialist, President Barack Obama - as the GOP would have us believe - has helped Wall Street get its groove back.

Now, just after Obama met with the Business Chamber of Commerce last week, urging them to be corporate patriots (and start rehiring), we on Main Street are still waiting for the trickle down.

Granted, the job's indicator is a lagging indicator. But we still would like big business, especially after their life saving bail out, to put that two trillion dollar wind-fall back into the economy and pay the American people dividends.

Tick-tick...the clock is running!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Kids For Cash

What is former President Judge Mark Ciavarella of Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania accused of doing?

As a juvenile court judge, Ciavarella received $2.6 million in kickbacks (he calls the money finders fees) from Robert Powell and Robert Mericle, owners of two private, for-profit juvenile detention facilities in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

For the cash (he already copped a guilty plea that was later withdrawn), he rendered harsh sentences to juveniles as young as ten years old (often lacking legal representation) sending them to juvenile detention centers owned by Powell and Mericle (this ten year old with no previous record was lead out of court in handcuffs and shackles).

This truly unbelievable story reflects the fundamental flaw of corporate - for profit - run prisons, detention centers or jails. The convergence of windfall profits, poverty, poor education, insufficient legal representation, corruption, greed and scarce oversight all lead to predictable disasters - like the above mentioned travesty of justice.

Corporate jails need warm bodies; thus they do not want rehabilitation - they need dysfunctional communities to continue feeding their bottom line. Promoting peaceful and law abiding communities is against their best interests.

Detention centers are a necessary instution in our society. They protect law abiding citizens from criminals. But a correctional institution should be run by those that have a vested interest in crime reduction and not the opposite.

America already has, by far, the largest prison population in the world. To think we would begin the criminalization process with children as young as ten years old is sick. Hopefully, this former judge gets the book thrown at him.

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