Category Archives: Uncategorized

In Iran, government forces killed a number of protesters and arrested hundreds Sunday. Government officials denited the reports of deaths, and continued to bar all foreign reporters. The number of those killed was reported variously as five, eight or ten, including the nephew of the main opposition leader. Continue reading →

Michele Bachmann is co-sponsoring a resolution to protect Christmas from … well, it’s not entirely clear from whom. She wants the House of Representatives to recognize the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas (and NOT Hanukkah or al-Adha or Kwanzaa) and to say it “strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas” and to express “support for the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas.” Non-Christians — keep your hands off the trees and lights and gift-giving! Continue reading →

For about an hour last night, Twitter users were redirected to a page showing a message declaring it had been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army (which, of course, might not be Iranian at all). Continue reading →

President Barack Obama spoke Friday to the leaders of 193 nations gathered at the climate change summit, after a pre-speech summit with leaders of 17 other countries. China refused to attend, reports the Washington Post: Continue reading →

Pills are more popular than pot, and meth and booze use are trending down among teens, according to a study released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. The study was done by the University of Michigan for NIDA.  Continue reading →

Despite a push from the Republican National Congressional Committee urging him to retire, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson is still running for another term, reports Eric Black in MinnPost. Why the RNCC thought they would/could/should have any influence on the 10-term Democratic representative, who currently chairs the House Agriculture Committee, is a mystery to me. Continue reading →

Minnesota state government contracted with Lookout Services, a firm in Texas, to E-verify the immigration status of new employees. E-verify is a system much loved by immigration opponents and widely criticized by others as inefficient and prone to errors. Lookout, however, had a different problem. The company was inept enough that the personal information of 500 employees became available to anyone who knew how to operate a mouse. Obviously, that’s a no-no, so Minnesota severed all ties with the company, after MPR turned up the story.

Instead of slinking away, hoping no one would sue for invasion of privacy or breach of contract, Lookout Services is suing the State of Minnesota, and maybe MPR, too. The Minnesota Independent quotes an E-Verify statement: “[L]imited portions of the company’s proprietary software may have been illegally compromised by The State of Minnesota and Minnesota Public Radio.” Apparently they think that going to the company website and noticing that they have left personal info hanging out is illegal – but leaving said info accessible is not.

Governor Tim Pawlenty’s latest budget-balancing trick is to “borrow” money from the Minnesots State Colleges and Universities to help with the state’s cash flow problem. The state is also delaying payments to the University of Minnesota, and payments of corporate and sales tax rebates. Continue reading →

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The Department of Education has just released stats on student loan defaults. The worst in Minnesota: Duluth Business University with a default rate of nearly 35 percent, and Rainy River Community College with a default rate of almost 29 percent.

In general, reports MPR, Minnesota students did a lot better than that, with only a 6 percent overall default rate, compared to 12 percent nationwide. All Minnesota private, for-profit colleges and two-year colleges had default rates in the teens, while public four-year colleges had a default rate of only 3 percent, and private four-year colleges had a default rate of only 2.5 percent. MPR has a table of all MN colleges and default rates.

Students who finish their degrees have lower default rates, because they have a better chance of being employed. No surprise there.

Harris Miller, president and CEO of the Career College Association, which represents for-profit colleges, told APthat part of the reason for their high default rate is that they accept so many low-income students. Funny, I’d guess that it has more to do with their high tuition, low graduation rates and consequent inability of indebted ex-students to find jobs that pay enough to make the loan payments.

Iraq At least three car bombs in downtown Baghdad, near the Green Zone, killed at least five people on Tuesday, reports NPR.

“There were two military checkpoints using detectors at the beginning of the street, how can such car bombs manage to enter and explode?” said a woman who identified herself as Um Ali, her cheeks smeared with blood as she screamed at reporters, echoing the frustrations voiced by many Iraqis.

The explosions came exactly a week after suicide bombers killed 127 people and wounded more than 500 in a series of five bombings across the capital – three of which appeared to target government buildings. Suicide bombers on Aug. 19 and Oct. 25 also targeted government ministries and buildings in a series of horrific bombings in which more than 250 people were killed.

BBC reports that the Baghdad bombing was followed by another car bombing in Mosul.

Pakistan A car bomb outside a politician’s home in Dera Ghazi Khan town in Punjab province killed at least 22 people and injured 70 more Tuesday, reports the New York Times.

Afghanistan At least 16 policemen and possibly two militants were killed in two attacks Monday on police posts, one in Baghlan province in the north and one in Helmand province in the south, reports BBC. More than 1,000 police officers have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

A car bomb in central Kabul on Tuesday morning killed at least eight people, reports the New York Times. The bombing was near the home of  a former Afghan vice president, and also near a hotel that is used by many Westerners.

Yemen Some 70 civilians were killed in an air force bombing of a market in the Bani Maan village in the border region between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, say rebels known as Houthis. The renewed fighting between rebels and the Yemeni government has been going on since August, but the insurgency dates back to 2004. The Yemen air force says that it, and not the Saudis, carried out the bombing, according to BBC. The Yemeni army spokesperson said the village was one of the most fortified Houthi strongholds.

Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch in New York, accuse the Yemeni government of abuses, according to another BBC article. Until 1990, Yemen was two separate countries.

The authorities have suspended publication of several newspapers, censored coverage of sensitive issues and arrested popular bloggers, Human Rights Watch say.

In 1994 there was a civil war in Yemen after an attempt by the south to secede was quashed by the northern government of Mr Saleh.

People in the south, home to most of Yemen’s oil facilities, have long complained the central government takes advantage of their resources but marginalises and discriminates against them.