A Trapdoor In The Sun

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/1135443.html RALEIGH - L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, defying a directive sent to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley. When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff. The brouhaha began late Sunday night, when Eason e-mailed eight of his employees in the state standards lab, which calibrates measuring equipment used on things as widely varied as gasoline and hamburgers. "Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to ...

http://wonkette.com/401018/anti-gay-alabama-attorney-general-caught-being-gay Anti-Gay Alabama A.G. Caught Being Gay This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude’s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG’s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details. AG in question is Troy King, who, of course, is only interested in outlawing homosexuality and sex toys. His gay lover is either a college “buddy,” or a very young youngster and “Homecoming King” from Troy University. What are the odds of a dude named Troy King getting caught in bed with a Homecoming King from Troy University? This seems like a wacky sitcom plot, on a gay porn channel. (Is this what that Will & Grace was about?)

Are we in the 70's again? Should I break out some platform shoes and start wearing wide ties? Today's crunch feels like '70s By Michael E. Kanell The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 07/13/08 High oil prices, a sluggish economy, persistent inflation , an unpopular president and the Eagles are out on tour. Sounds like a rerun of the 1970s. But it is also a snapshot from the summer of 2008 —- even if it does conjure images from the past. "The similarities are there," said economist Gerald Lynch of Purdue University. "That was a miserable time for the economy. And the clothes were ugly, too." Wide ties may not be making a comeback, but hints of the era's economics are in the air. One of the stars of that original '70s show was stagflation, a term invented to describe a mix of rapid inflation and near-stagnant growth. The word has re-entered the economic vocabulary of late. "As far as I can see, the wheels have fallen off ...

When we openly accept a system that allows faceless corporations to place the bottom line in front of human beings, I feel that we have sold out freedom, democracy and everything that being an American stands for. Yet, this story repeats itself over and over...whether it be Enron executives walking all over it's employees and investors of Chevron's direct involvement in the torture and murder of Bowoto protestors in Niger, it seems like the larger a corporation becomes, the less it's leadership feels it should be responsible. Employers use federal law to deny benefits Workers -- and some judges -- frustrated in legal fights over benefits with large employers WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer. "He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who...

Regulators Cries in the Dark How serious is America's energy crisis? These four voices want to make sure policymakers don't dismiss it -- again. By  NEIL KING JR. June 30, 2008; Page R15 The oil shock of 1973 came and went. So did the panic after the Iranian revolution six years later, when oil prices shot to record highs. Gone, too, is the brief flurry of fear that followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. After each, voices in Washington that cried out for big changes in U.S. energy policy were slowly drowned out. James Schlesinger, the first U.S. energy secretary, has said for decades that when it comes to energy policy, the U.S. toggles between complacency and panic. THE JOURNAL REPORT   •  See the complete  Energy  report. Will it be different this time around? With oil soaring above $130 a barrel and fears spreading of a long-term supply crunch, a new cadre of energy Cassandras in Washington argues that America faces deep and potentially wrenching challenges that n...