TheScroogeReport

While Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is not alone in engaging in illegal anti- union tactics, the retailer “stands out for the extreme sophistication and aggressiveness of its anti-union strategies.”  - Human Rights Watch

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
Associated Press

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

NEW YORK—Wal-Mart’s exploitation of weak U.S. labor laws interferes with workers’ rights to organize and violates the human rights of its employees, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, an independent nongovernment organization.

In a 210-page report released Monday, Human Rights Watch said Wal-Mart uses an arsenal of sophisticated tactics—some of which it says are illegal_ aimed at thwarting union organization and creating a climate of fear for its 1.3 million U.S. workers.

The Human Rights Watch study was based on interviews with 41 current and former Wal-Mart workers, managers, labor lawyers and union organizers between 2004 and early 2007. The organization also said it analyzed cases against Wal-Mart charging the company with violating U.S. labor and employment laws.

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We’ve long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses, but we have never before had scans to show how the mechanism works. - Dr. Philip McGuire

By MARIA CHENG
Associated Press

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

LONDON - New findings on marijuana’s damaging effect on the brain show the drug triggers temporary psychotic symptoms in some people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors say.

British doctors took brain scans of 15 healthy volunteers given small doses of two of the active ingredients of cannabis, as well as a placebo.

One compound, cannabidiol, or CBD, made people more relaxed. But even small doses of another component, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, produced temporary psychotic symptoms in people, including hallucinations and paranoid delusions, doctors said.

The results, to be presented at an international mental health conference in London on Tuesday and Wednesday, provides physical evidence of the drug’s damaging influence on the human brain.

“We’ve long suspected that cannabis is linked to psychoses, but we have never before had scans to show how the mechanism works,” said Dr. Philip McGuire, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College, London.

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“By far the largest number of reported terrorist incidents occurred in the Near East and South Asia,” says the 335-page report, referring to the regions where Iraq and Afghanistan are located. 

Associated Press

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

WASHINGTON — Terrorist attacks worldwide shot up 25 percent last year, particularly in Iraq where extremists used chemical weapons and suicide bombers to target crowds.

In its annual global survey of terrorism to be released Monday, the State Department says about 14,000 attacks took place in 2006, mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan. These strikes claimed more than 20,000 lives - two-thirds in Iraq. That is 3,000 more attacks than in 2005 and 5,800 more deaths.

Altogether, 40 percent more people were killed by increasingly lethal means around the globe.

The report attributes the higher casualty figures to a 25-percent jump in the number of nonvehicular suicide bombings targeting large crowds. That overwhelmed a 12-percent dip in suicide attacks involving vehicles.

In Iraq, the use of chemical weapons, seen for the first time in a November 23, 2006 attack in Sadr City, also “signaled a dangerous strategic shift in tactics,” it says.

With the rise in fatalities, the number of injuries from terrorist attacks also rose, by 54 percent, between 2005 and 2006, with a doubling in the number wounded in Iraq over the period, according to the department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2006.

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Why are we catering to their rituals? We don’t do it for any other religion. - MCI Airport Official

WorldNetDaily

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

KANSAS, Mo. - The Kansas City International Airport has added several foot-washing basins in restrooms to accommodate a growing number of Muslim taxicab drivers who requested the facilities to prepare for daily Islamic prayer, WND has learned.

The move concerns airport police who worry about Middle Eastern men loitering inside the building. After 9/11, the airport beefed up its police force to help prevent terrorist attacks.

“Why are we constructing places of worship for them inside our airports?” said an airport official who requested anonymity. “Why are we catering to their rituals? We don’t do it for any other religion.”

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Just a few weeks ago we saw Al Gore on television .. saying that all Holland will be flooded due to rising sea levels.

AP

By TOBY STERLING
Associated Press

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

SCHAGEN, Netherlands - The massive central door in the side of Noah’s Ark was thrown open Saturday - you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years - drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder.

Of course, it’s only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan’s fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

“The design is by my wife, Bianca,” Huibers said. “She didn’t really want me to do this at all, but she said if you’re going to anyway, it should look like this.”

A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine - biblical scholars debate exactly what the wood used by Noah would have been.

Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and occasional help from his son Roy. Construction began in May 2005.

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FOXNews

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

We had it wrong all along. The French don’t hate us … they hate themselves!

According to an opinion poll published Friday, the French dislike themselves even more than Americans dislike them, Reuters reported.

The survey of six nations, carried out for the International Herald Tribune daily and France 24 TV station, said 44 percent of French people thought badly of themselves against 38 percent of U.S. respondents who had a negative view of the French.

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ChristianExaminer.com

April 30, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Seven Georgia public school districts have voted to adopt the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public School’s elective Bible curriculum, “The Bible in History and Literature,” since the passage of a recent state law.

Last year, the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation encouraging public schools to offer an elective course that teaches both the Old and the New Testaments in the context of history and literature, using the Bible as the primary textbook.

“We are pleased that many districts are already taking action to implement the recommendations of the legislature. State and local leaders are right to acknowledge that teaching about the Bible is an important component of any well-rounded education,” said Elizabeth Ridenour, the council’s president.

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Passengers were told to lay down and not look out the window during the transfers.

Associated Press

April 28, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

MADISON, Wis. — Three men face federal charges in connection with a drug ring that used tour buses to move millions of dollars and marijuana between Detroit and Tucson, Ariz.

U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said authorities have seized about $3.7 million in cash from the drug ring in recent weeks, according to a statement issued by his office in Milwaukee late Friday afternoon.

Terrance Lamont Davis, of Tucson, and Calvin C. Wiggins and James L. Reaves, both of Detroit, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. The three men are being held in Tucson. They could face life in prison and up to $4 million in fines if convicted.

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Mike Penner’s account of becoming Christine Daniels liberates the columnist and strikes a chord with readers.

By JAMES RAINEY
Los Angeles Times

April 28, 2007 - The Scrooge Report Post

The security guard in the lobby of the Los Angeles Times couldn’t help but ask the question. When he looked at the computer in front of him earlier this week, he saw the picture of a strapping blond man. The screen identified the employee: “Michael Penner, Editorial.”

But the person flashing the ID was a tall woman, with long, strawberry blond hair. “Ma’am, whose card are you using?” the guard asked. The subject moved closer to answer quietly: “I’m Mike Penner and I’m a transitioning transsexual.”

With that, security waved Penner into the newspaper where he has worked for 23 years, one of many hurdles the veteran sportswriter will be crossing in the coming weeks as he transforms into Christine Daniels.

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Old Mike, new Christine

LA Times Photo

INDIO, Calif. - The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is the ’scene’ where a projected 60,000 people per day will gather for the 3-day weekend event. On Friday, ‘Coachella Skully’ and company ushered in the first act.
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Coachella: thousands of fans and getting hotter every year
Rock lovers flock to the desert for what has become the concert.