Articles Posted by ECM
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The ignored elephant in the immigration debate is the negative impact of illegal immigration on job opportunities for unskilled, uneducated, native-born U.S. workers -- particularly young African-Americans, but also native-born Hispanics. In their Hollywood debate, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton refused to admit immigration "hits poor and minorities hardest" as the cliché goes. While some proponents of a liberal immigration policy admit to anecdotal evidence of the elephant's existence, they typically discount a causal relationship between employed illegal immigrants and unemployed citizens. Granted, it's hard to document employers hiring illegal immigrants over legal applicants; after all, it's against the law....
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Most of the problem solving we do in order to get through a day involves the use of what's referred to as "working memory." it acts a bit like RAM; we store information we need for the task at hand temporarily, but don't necessarily commit it to permanent memory. A recent study has probed the qualities of visual working memory, and has come to the conclusion that we have a finite and well-defined capacity for visual items, a finding that may have far-reaching implications for one simple reason: that capacity may be what's stressed by IQ tests. The study appeared...
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It was thought that John McCain might have trouble in Florida, a state where only registered Republicans can vote. But he beat Mitt Romney by a not inconsequential margin, and Romney must be kicking himself for withdrawing from the South Carolina battlefield early when he might have derailed the so-called "straight-talk express." It is said that since the Reagan era, every winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the GOP nomination. Unfortunately, McCain is no Reagan. He is now advancing on the strength of two main issues — his status as a genuine war hero who...
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The Brazilian city of Recife is to distribute morning-after pills to women during carnival after public prosecutors on Tuesday rejected a Catholic Church lawsuit claiming the initiative promoted sex and provided "abortions." "The pill has no abortive effect, as the archdiocese claims, and its distribution is in no way an incentive to have sex," the prosecutor who made the decision, Ivana Botelho, told AFP. On top of its legal defeat, the church has come under fire from the Brazilian government for attempting to sway public health policy. "The (Recife) mayor's office is right and the church is wrong, again," Health...
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A government department of the State of Hawaii is demanding the retraction of a political cartoon published Jan. 18 on the satirical web site http://www.zeroshibai.com/ The demands come in response to images and text ridiculing the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Kau Inoa campaign as "Cow Inoa." Kau Inoa, Hawaiian for "place your name" is building a roll of Hawaiians to participate in a Hawaiian tribal government. Haunani Apoliona, writing in her capacity as "Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Office of Hawaiian Affairs" (OHA) in a Jan. 24 statement demands: "The cartoon should be pulled and the secret author publicly identified." Apoliona...
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When conservatives lay out their long list of apostasies committed by John McCain, one of them is always his role in the Gang of 14, the 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans in the Senate who agreed to a judicial compromise in 2005. The deal that was struck eliminated the use of the "nuclear option" by the then-GOP-controlled Senate, and also limited the Democratic minority's ability to use the filibuster to block certain judicial nominees (at the time the deal was stuck, there were no pending Supreme Court nominations, only Appellate Court nominations were being held up). To put it plainly,...
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“I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think ‘Mexico first.’ †These are the words of Juan Hernandez, John McCain’s “Hispanic outreach director,†on Nightline June 7, 2001. *snip* Contrary to some of the more enthusiastic venting on the web, the problem is not that McCain has a Hispanic outreach director; while the government shouldn’t have anything to do with race or ethnicity, it’s perfectly natural for a political campaign to do outreach to any and every kind of voter. In fact, McCain’s “very close†friend, Hillary Clinton, last spring named Raul Yzaguirre to...
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Dear Michelle, I attended the townhall meeting earlier today in Polk City and asked John McCain: Your Hispanic Outreach Campaign Advisor, Juan Hernandez, has written a book referring to illegal immigrants as “New American Pioneers.†Hernandez has also stated that illegal immigrants who use social security numbers of American citizens really don’t steal, they have no choice but to make up a number. Are you aware of his statements? Do you agree with him? If not would you consider removing him from your staff? John McCain answered that he supported Juan Hernandez because he holds the same views as he...
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The head of the security-political task force at the Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, demanded over the weekend that Egypt restore order in Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians have been crossing into Egypt from the Gaza border town through a ruptured barrier since Wednesday. **SNIP** On Saturday, Hamas made an offer to Egypt to restore the Gaza Strip's ruptured border through direct diplomacy with Cairo, challenging a plan by rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to assume control. Egypt is under pressure to seal the Gaza-Egypt border, breached early Wednesday, but is reluctant to be seen as shoring up a 7-month-old blockade...
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MIAMI (AP) - Florida Sen. Mel Martinez will endorse John McCain on Friday, The Associated Press has learned, a move likely to give the Republican presidential candidate a crucial boost with the state's Cuban- Americans just days before the primary. The decision is a blow to Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor in a close fight with McCain for support of voters in the Cuban-American community—and to keep his candidacy alive. Two Republican officials disclosed the upcoming endorsement on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement. As recently as Thursday night, Martinez indicated he would remain neutral...
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NEW YORK (AP) - Few constituencies are as eager for the Republican Party to falter this political season as gay-rights activists. Yet as they observe the Democratic presidential campaign and the rest of the electoral landscape, their high hopes often are mixed with frustration. Even as they expect to support whichever Democrat gets the presidential nomination, many activists are disappointed that the three leading contenders rarely mention gay-rights topics unless responding to a question. "They don't want to broach civil unions, marriage, equalizing benefits for same-sex couples," said Jennifer Chrisler, head of the Family Equality Council, which supports gay and...
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Egyptian guards with riot shields formed human chains along the Egypt-Gaza border Friday, but were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier. Men in black clothing, some of them masked, stood atop the bulldozer as it knocked down a concrete slab under the watchful eyes of Egyptian forces on the other side who shot in the air in an attempt to hinder the flow of Gazans into Egypt. Thousands of Palestinians, many of them carrying empty fuel canisters, managed to push through several openings despite the...
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HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Co. is halting production of Ice Breakers Pacs in response to criticism that the mints look too much like illegal street drugs, the company's president and chief executive officer said Thursday. Hershey CEO David J. West disclosed the decision during a conference call about the company's newly released fourth-quarter earnings report. Ice Breakers Pacs, which first hit store shelves in November, are nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside. The pouches come in blue or orange and bear the Ice Breakers logo. Members of Philadelphia's police narcotics squad said the mints closely resemble tiny...
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MEXICO CITY (AP) - Groping and verbal harassment is an exasperating reality for women using public transportation in this sprawling capital, where 22 million passengers cram onto subways and buses each day. Some men treat women so badly that the subway system has long had ladies-only cars during rush hour, with police segregating the sexes on the platforms. But that hasn't helped women forced to rely on packed buses, by far the city's most-used form of public transportation - until this week. Acting on complaints from women's groups, the city rolled out "ladies only" buses, complete with pink signs in...
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Q: How much support do you think he has among the base of the Republican Party? Roberta McCain: “I don’t think he has any. I don’t know what the base of the Repub–maybe I don’t know enough about it, but I’ve not seen any help whatsoever.â€
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Chávez. Lula. Kirchner. Morales. Vásquez. Correa. Bachelet. Ortega. Socialism sweeps Latin America as leftist presidents rise. Reading the news today, one can be forgiven for believing that a near-revolution in Latin America is at hand, that the morning of equality for the marginalized masses speedily draws near. The truth is, the socialist "pink tide" washing ashore in Latin America is just foam that Western journalists have gulped down: it is far more rhetorical than real. Reporters equate a bloated but still capitalist state that thrives—and can only thrive—on mass handouts with a socialist one. Don't be fooled. Blue and red...
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U2 lead singer and activist Bono visited the Pentagon to discuss Africa and the fight against global poverty with U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, representatives of the two men said on Wednesday. Among the topics at the 20-minute meeting on Tuesday afternoon were U.S. plans to set up a new U.S. military command for Africa, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. "I think this was a chance for two people who care about the problems facing the continent of Africa to talk about their shared interest in solving those problems," Morrell said of the meeting that was...
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A Biloxi school teacher is under investigation for allegedly having sexual contact with a teenage student. Biloxi police say they arrested Rebecca Bogard, 27, on Friday, after the teen's family filed a complaint. Bogard is charged with one-count of sexual battery. Bogard is a first-year Science teacher at Fernwood Alternative School, also known as the Center for New Opportunities. Police say the alleged incident involved a 15-year old male student who attends the school.
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Venezuela's top food company has accused troops of illegally seizing more than 500 tonnes of food from its trucks as part of President Hugo Chavez's campaign to stem shortages. The leftist Chavez this week created a state food distributor and loosened some price controls, seeking to end months of shortages for staples like milk and eggs that have caused long lines and upset his supporters in the OPEC nation. The highly publicised campaign has also included government crackdowns on accused smuggling, with the military seizing 1,600 tonnes of food and sending 1,200 troops to the border with Colombia. Jose Anzola,...
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Chicago - For parents worried about how to treat children's colds now that some medicines have been called into question, the answer may be a dose of salt water. A nasal spray made from Atlantic Ocean seawater eased wintertime cold symptoms faster and slowed cough and cold symptoms from returning among children ages 6 to 10, researchers in Europe reported on Monday. It may be that the salt water has a simple mechanical effect of clearing mucus, or it could be that trace elements in the water play some more significant role, though the exact reason why such a solution...
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