Snipped news from Mark Crispian Miller

[roguevalley]

I'm on his newsletter and these are interesting news factlets
that he sent:

__DAV Urges Defense Secretary to Get the Facts to War Wounded

If you thought active military folk were being jerked around by Bush, it is nothing compared to the treatment received by wounded, returning vets. To "cut costs," Rumsfeld has instructed VA personnel not to inform vets of their rights. Walter Reed Hospital has even barred DAV reps from visiting any patients except those it has "prescreened." Here's a quote from the print edition of the Jan/Feb issue of "DAV": "Disabled vets from Iraq and Afghanistan are mostly unaware of their rights as veterans and, acting without representation, some have accepted less than their disabilities warranted. Few are aware of free DAV representation that will help them." When the VA does offer vets info, it is, says DAV chief David Gorman, "inadequate and fails to meet the needs of those who have been injured." So much for Bush's much touted "appreciation" of the troops.
http://dav.org/news/news_20040107.html

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__Corporations Use Bush Rules to Deny Overtime to Veterans

WashPost: "Some companies are interpreting language in new national overtime pay rules as possibly allowing them to exempt workers who have received military training... Under federal law, workers who are 'learned professionals' are presumed to have control of their own time and are exempt from receiving overtime pay. Historically, that category included workers such as doctors, lawyers, scientists, theologians and others with advanced degrees. In proposing changes in the rules last spring, the Labor Department said in the Federal Register that 'the exemption is also available to employees in such professions who have substantially the same knowledge as the degreed employees, but who have attained such knowledge through a combination of work experience, training in the armed forces, attending a technical school, attending a community college or other intellectual instruction.'"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58250-2004Jan28.html

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__Record Number to Run Out of Unemployment Benefits

WashPost: "A record-high 375,000 jobless workers will exhaust their unemployment insurance this month and an estimated 2 million workers will find themselves in the same predicament during the first half of the year, according to an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The report from the center, a liberal research and policy group, found that in the first six months of the year, about 5,800 jobless workers in the District of Columbia, 20,200 in Maryland and 29,600 in Virginia will run out of unemployment benefits unless they find new jobs or get additional government help. The jobless recovery has become an issue in this presidential election year, and the report shows the jobless benefits will run out for large numbers of workers in several key states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61715-2004Jan29.html

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__For Some Republicans: Anyone But Bush...

John Nichols writes: "The record-high turnout in the New Hampshire Democratic primary -- 219,787 Granite State voters took Democratic ballots Tuesday, shattering the previous record of 170,000 in 1992 -- is being read as a signal that voters in one New England state, and most likely elsewhere, are enthusiastic about the prospect of picking a challenger for George W. Bush and many New Hampshire primary participants decided to skip the formalities and simply vote against the president in Tuesday's Republican primary. Thousands of these Bush-bashing Republicans went so far as to write in the names of Democratic presidential contenders... In all, 8,279 primary voters wrote in the names of Democratic challengers to Bush on their Republican ballots. That's a significant number. In the 2000 general election, Bush beat Democrat Al Gore in New Hampshire by just 7,212 votes."
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?bid=1&pid=1221

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__Arab-Americans Switch from Bush to Kucinich

From Scaife Net Daily: "Complaining it was betrayed, a key Arab-American group that endorsed George W. Bush in the 2000 election says it will back Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich for the Democratic nomination and stand behind that party's eventual nominee... while the Arab-American community is small -- an estimated 3.5 million nationally -- it is concentrated in several 'battleground' states, including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida."
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36864

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__State Attorney Accuses AG of Impeding Investigation of Rush

"State Attorney Barry Krischer on Thursday accused Attorney General Charlie Crist's office of trying to impede the Rush Limbaugh prescription fraud investigation for political reasons. Krischer expected Crist's office to file the state's response to Limbaugh's appeal of a decision to unseal the commentator's medical records in the prescription fraud case. Crist's office pulled out of the appeal one hour before a Jan. 12 deadline imposed by the appeals court, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for Krischer's office. 'We obviously think that was to put us into a position so we could not respond,' Edmondson said. A prosecutor from Krischer's office was able to file the brief in time."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/south_county_0491adbe454cf1fb00be.html

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__Salon Scrubs Laura Bush's Homicide

In "Why I love Laura Bush," Salon's Curtis Sittenfeld writes, "I'm a staunch liberal who hates George W. And yet I think his wife is sincere, down-to-earth, smart - and a role model for all Americans." Before declaring LB a role model, shouldn't Sittenfeld do a little homework? He writes: "At the age of 17, in a tragic accident, she hits another car being driven by a handsome, athletic high school classmate, a boy she's believed to have had a crush on. " Well, sort of. If we're talking about a "role model," isn't it worth mentioning the boy - Michael Douglas - was her BOYFRIEND according to the AP, and Laura actually KILLED him?

(http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3910b26e685a.htm) And was it just an accident? As the first Freeper post asks, "What's the odds of running a stop sign and killing your boyfriend????" Hey Salon - now that you've sanctified Laura, how about investigating the death of Michael Douglas?
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2004/01/29/laura/index.html



And the beat goes on ...