FINANCIAL TIMES: Beijing’s mayor at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has described the bloodshed as “regrettable” and “a tragedy that could have been prevented”, in a rare departure from the Chinese Communist party’s version of the crackdown. Chen Xitong, now 81, was regarded as a hardliner at the time of the Tiananmen […]
Month: May 2012
After 30 years, Patriot-News still hasn’t gotten the entire story- Part Seven of the Watershed Series
On May 29, 2012, the Harrisburg Patriot-News published an article titled, “Harrisburg’s eye-popping debt total is just one piece of city’s bleak financial puzzle.” Unfortunately, after 30 years of comfortable living with Harrisburg’s growing debt crisis, The Patriot-News still doesn’t have the entire debt story.
Focus on lowering hospital readmissions to bring down costs
HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Op Ed: … A new report issued last month by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council found that two of every 15 adult hospital stays in the state in 2010, or 13.5 percent, were followed by readmission within 30 days… The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has estimated that nationally, potentially preventable readmissions […]
Pennsylvania natural gas interests spent $1.3 million on lobbying
From the LEHIGH VALLEY MORNING CALL: Five of Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas drilling interests spent a staggering $1.3 million to lobby state government from January through March as lawmakers and the Corbett administration worked to approve a new impact fee on the industry.
Number of high-school students with jobs hits 20-year low
WASHINGTON TIMES: The American job market is no place for students as the number of employed high schoolers has hit its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to new figures from the National Center for Education Statistics. In 1990, 32 percent of high school students held jobs, versus just 16 percent now. Blame […]
Harrisburg’s eye-popping debt total is just one piece of city’s bleak financial puzzle
From the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS: Missing financial audits, complicated transactions and intertwining finances create a labyrinth of money that stretches decades into Harrisburg’s history. At best estimates, based upon reviews of independent reports and audited financial statements, the amount of debt owed by the city and its affiliated entities — with interest — stands somewhere north of $1.5 billion.
Castro Knew of Oswald, JFK Shooting
From NEWSMAX: …On Nov. 22, 1963, the day of the assassination, he was ordered to stop all CIA tracking efforts and redirect his antennas away from Miami and direct them toward Texas… Cuban intelligence officers “exhorted Oswald” and “encouraged his feral militance,” he writes, “but it was his (Oswald’s) plan and his rifle, not theirs.”
U.S. vets’ disability filings reach historic rate
USA TODAY: …A staggering 45% of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related. That is more than double the estimate of 21% who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told the Associated Press. […]
A Tough Judge’s Proposal for Fairer Sentencing
NEW YORK TIMES: ….Judge John Gleeson is not shy about meting out tough sentences. “Most people, including me,” he wrote in a 2010 decision, “agree that the kingpins, masterminds and midlevel managers of drug trafficking enterprises deserve severe punishment.” But he has lately been saying that his old employer, the Department of Justice, has stopped […]
Germany sets solar power record: 50% of electricity demand through midday hours
REUTERS: German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour—equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity—through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said. The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing […]
We only have Memorial Day half right
In recent weeks the Watchdog visited Tunisia and had the edifying and emotionally wrenching experience of visiting a military cemetery containing 2200 American soldiers who fell during the 1942 African Campaign at the outset of World War II.
Alan Simpson Slams Fellow Republicans For Unwillingness To Compromise
HUFFINGTON POST: …. In his characteristically colorful style, Simpson told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that Republicans’ rigid opposition to new tax revenues has hampered productivity and diminished the chances of reaching an agreement with Democrats on debt reduction. “You can’t cut spending your way out of this hole,” Simpson, who was appointed as co-chair of President […]
30 North Korean officials involved in South talks die ‘in traffic accidents’
TELEGRAPH: Thirty officials of the North Korean regime who were involved in talks with South Korea have been executed or died in “staged traffic accidents,” according to a human rights report Their task would have been made immeasurably more difficult given North Korea’s insistence with pushing ahead with its development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental […]
George Will: Donald Trump Is ‘Bloviating Ignoramus’
HUFFINGTON POST: …On Sunday, “This Week” moderator Jake Tapper wondered if Trump hurt Romney’s efforts to convince voters to “take him seriously.” “I do not understand the cost benefit here,” Will lamented. “The costs are clear. The benefit — what voter is gonna vote for [Romney] because he is seen with Donald Trump. The cost […]