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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/9kfMecswm7I/get-one-of-fifty-kindle-ebooks-for-just-1

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Walmart's Mexico Bribes

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2012/12/walmart-mexico-bribes

The New York Times has a 7,500-word major investigative article that runs under the headline "The Bribery Article: How Wal-Mart Used Payoffs To Get Its Way In Mexico." From the article:

Thanks to eight bribe payments totaling $341,000, for example, Wal-Mart built a Sam's Club in one of Mexico City's most densely populated neighborhoods, near the Bas?lica de Guadalupe, without a construction license, or an environmental permit, or an urban impact assessment, or even a traffic permit.

Let me stipulate loud and clear that I am against bribes. But what the article doesn't really explore is the link between regulation and corruption. One of the reasons that these extensive regulations are often a bad idea is that they don't actually achieve their stated goals. Instead, they create opportunities for regulators to shake down companies and individuals for either clearly illegal gifts like bribes or borderline legal benefits like campaign contributions, revolving-door job offers, or the prospect of lucrative future consulting work or speaking fees.

The article makes Walmart (and by extension, big business or global capitalism) out as the villain. But equally culpable are the Mexican officials who accepted the bribes. The Times article seems to let them off pretty easily.

I'm not familiar with how it works in Mexico. But in cities I have covered here in America, you get these environmental or traffic permits by hiring former city or county government officials as consultants to write reports and meet with their former colleagues. Or by hiring lobbyists who also work as campaign consultants and campaign fundraisers for the politicians who make the decisions. It may not be as nakedly corrupt as Mexico, but it's the same general idea of regulations that, rather than protecting people, serve to enrich the people who write the regulations.

by Editor ?|? Dec 17, 2012 at 10:26 pm Related Topics:? Press, Regulation receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list

Source: http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2012/12/walmart-mexico-bribes

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Baseball-bat killer gets federal death sentence

NEW HAVEN -- For the first time in Connecticut's federal court history, a judge sentenced a defendant to death for the brutal baseball-bat beatings of three duct-taped victims in a Bridgeport apartment house.

Azibo Aquart, minus the customary dreadlocks that earned him the street name `Dreddy," showed no emotion while U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton handed down the sentence imposed by a jury on June 15, 2011.

She ordered Aquart, 32, taken to the special confinement unit at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., where he will join 57 others on death row.

The judge also ordered a portion of Aquart's future puny prison job earnings be used to repay the $17,106 funeral expenses the three victims' families incurred.

"He should be treated like the animal he is," said Latavia Whittingham, a daughter of Tina Johnson, one of the victims. "What he did is characteristic of an animal. I will never find it in my heart to forgive him.

But imposition of the sentence won't came anytime soon.

Michael Sheehan, one of Aquart's court-appointed, lawyers, said appeals will be filed.

Aquart, the reputed head of a crack trafficking ring that operated out of an apartment house at 215 Charles St., was convicted in 2011 of planning, ordering and participating in the murders of Tina Johnson, a small time rival; her boyfriend, James Reid and a family friend, Basil Williams. Aquart led a group which included his brother, Azikiwie, who is serving a life sentence, dressed in black wearing ski masks and vinyl gloves.

During the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 24, 2005, they broke into Johnson's first floor apartment, bolted the door shut from the inside and mummified the trio in duct tape.

One of the participants, John Taylor, testified that Azibo that grabbed a baseball bat and beat Johnson and Williams to death while his brother battered Reid.

Taylor, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role, said at one point Azibo offered him the bat and asked him "if you want some of this."

A fourth participant, Efrain Johnson, is awaiting a mandatory life sentence.

On Monday, Whittingham addressed the court and related how on the first day of Aquart's 2011 trial two years ago "he looked at me and told me `it was business, nothing personal.' "

"You were extremely wrong. It was extremely personal," she said. "When the jury came back and said death, it made me feel better -- a whole lot better."

She then told Arterton: "He will never do that to anyone ever again ... Forgiveness is something I will never have in my heart."

Whittingham, who is due to give birth Jan. 20, said the daughter she is carrying will be named Tina, after her mother.

Eleanor Layne, Williams's sister-in-law, told the judge his death occurred on her daughter's birthday.

"She doesn't celebrate it any more," Layne told the judge. "She just goes to his gravesite."

The death sentence, coming so close to the horrifying massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was touched on by both the victims' families and Sheehan, the defense lawyer.

Pamela Williams, Basil's sister who lives in Stratford, said listening to accounts of the horrifying events in Newtown caused her to flashback to the gruesome way her brother was battered to death.

"It brought back so many emotions," she said. "I pass by his cemetery every day I go to work. My heart is heavy."

Sheehan said he was numb both by the events in Newtown and the imposition of the death sentence in this courtroom. He termed it another "sad day for Connecticut."

He said the death penalty causes "good people to be "executioners" and "that is a form of sadness."

He claimed the majority of people on death row are "men of color" and he questioned the "politics of disparity."

Aquart is expected to be moved to the Indiana facility in this next few weeks. The two-story facility houses 50 cells and includes an industrial work shop, indoor and outdoor recreations, a food preparation area and a video-teleconferencing room used for court proceedings.

While Aquart is the first Connecticut man to face a federal death penalty, the government executed Louis Jones Jr., a 53-year-old former Gulf War veteran, on March 18, 2003, for raping and killing a 19-year-old female soldier.

Source: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Baseball-bat-killer-gets-federal-death-sentence-4124674.php

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Gunman Forced Way Into School, Shot 26 Victims Multiple Times

New information from police investigating the school shooting in Connecticut indicate that the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, forced his way into the school on the morning of December 14, killing two school officials as they tried to stop him from making his way to classrooms filled with children. After shooting the principal, 47-year-old Dawn Hochsprung, and 56-year-old Mary Sherlach, the school's psychologist, Lanza proceeded to at least two classrooms, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a pair of handguns, where he killed 20 children and the four teachers who were trying to protect them.

Law enforcement officials initially said they thought Lanza had been been buzzed into the school by Hochsprung, but it now appears that he breached school security by shooting through a glass door at the entrance, before going on his deadly rampage.

?We're doing everything we need to do to literally peel back the onion [of the investigation], layer by layer,? State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said at a news conference. He said they now know that Lanza ?was not voluntarily let into the school. He forced his way in.?

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lanza began the day by killing his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the home they shared, before driving to nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he used firearms belonging to his mother to kill his victims. While it is not clear how many firearms were used, investigators said they found at least one semi-automatic rifle and two handguns at the school, all of them tied to the assault.

According to the New York Times, investigators said Lanza shot his victims, ?first from a distance and then at close range, hitting some of them as many as 11 times, as he fired a semiautomatic rifle loaded with ammunition designed for maximum damage.?

Connecticut State Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II said autopsies revealed that most of the children, between six- and seven-years-old, had been shot more than once, saying the wounds were ?all over.? He emphasized that they were ?a very devastating set of injuries.?

From all indications, the adults killed in the incident died in heroic fashion, giving no thought to their own well-being as they attempted to save the children under their care. ?The Newtown school superintendent said the principal and the school psychologist had been shot as they tried to tackle the gunman in order to protect their students,? reported the?Times.

In addition to Hochsprung and Sherlach, the teachers who lost their lives were identified as Rachel Davino, 29; Anne Marie Murphy, 52; Victoria Soto, 27; and Lauren Rousseau, 30, who had just begun as a full-time teacher at the school in September after serving for several years as a substitute. ?It was the best year of her life,? her mother told the Danbury, Connecticut News-Times in a story about her daughter's life.

The New York Times reported that upon hearing the first gunshots, first-grade teacher Victoria Soto shepherded her first graders into closets and cabinets, ?and then, by some accounts, told the gunman the youngsters were in the gym.? A relative told ABC News that Soto died as she ?put herself between the gunman and the kids. She lost her life protecting those little ones.?

Contrary to earlier reports, there appeared to be no direct link between Lanza's mother and the school. ?Investigators said they believe Adam Lanza attended Sandy Hook many years ago, but they had no explanation for why he went there Friday,? reported the Associated Press. ?Authorities said Adam Lanza had no criminal history, and it was not clear whether he had a job.? It did appear, however, that Lanza may have suffered from a personality disorder, and may have been diagnosed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism. It was also reported that the young man was upset over his parents' 2009 divorce.

One classmate said that Adam Lanza was ?always different ? keeping to himself, fidgeting and very quiet. But I could always tell he was a super-smart kid, maybe just socially awkward, something just off about him.?

In a statement Lanza's father, Peter Lanza, said: ?Our family is grieving along with all those who have been affected by this enormous tragedy. No words can truly express how heartbroken we are. We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can.?

Predictably, the tragedy has ramped up renewed rhetoric about federal gun control. Shortly after the shooting the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence organized a protest in front of the White House, with participants chanting that ?Today is the day? to move ahead with federal restrictions. The gun control group declared in a press release that ?Americans must demand immediate action by our President and Congress to reform our gun laws. This must include legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales, strengthening those background checks ... and renewing the ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.?

While avoiding the highly politicized issue in his initial remarks about the killings, President Obama nonetheless made a subtle suggestion that the federal government would have to do ?something? in response to what he portrayed as an epidemic of gun violence. ?As a country, we have been through this too many times,? said Obama. ?Whether it?s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago ? these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.?

In the hours after the tragedy White House spokesman Jay Carney avoided addressing the issue of gun control when pressed by reporters. ?I think that day will come,? he said, ?but today?s not that day, especially as we are awaiting more information about the situation. I really encourage all of us to give a moment here to focus on what is an unfolding tragedy in Connecticut, and not to engage in Washington policy battles of long running today.?

Nonetheless, according to CNN, Carney said Obama is planning a renewed push for the ban on so-called ?assault?-style firearms ? a long list of semi-automatic rifles that are designed to look like fully automatic military weapons, but function as conventional rifles. Implementing such a ban ?does remain a commitment of his,? said Carney.

Gun control advocates in Congress quickly took the White House cue, raising a chorus for such a ban. ?We cannot simply accept this as a routine product of modern American life,? wept U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). ?If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control and the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society, I don't know when is.?

CNN recalled that in 1994 Congress passed a limited ban on some of the rifles, noting that the prohibition, ?which expired in 2004, did not eliminate them, but restricted their features, limiting magazine capacity to 10 rounds and regulating pistol grips, bayonet attachments, and flash suppressors.?

But in a December 15 commentary on the Connecticut shooting Larry Pratt, head of the Second Amendment group Gun Owners of America, argued that the tragedy, and others like it, are the result of federal laws that have made schools and other public places ?gun-free zones.? Pratt wrote that the blood of those killed ?is on the hands of members of Congress and the Connecticut legislators who voted to ban guns from all schools in Connecticut (and most other states). They are the ones who made it illegal to defend oneself with a gun in a school when that is the only effective way of resisting a gunman.?

Pratt noted that all of the mass murders where guns were used in the past 20 years occurred in supposedly gun-free zones. Had the principal, a teacher, or other school employee been armed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on that Friday morning, some have suggested, many of those who perished might have survived, with the gunman being killed before he had a chance to commit so much carnage.

?Hopefully the Connecticut tragedy will be the tipping point after which a rising chorus of Americans will demand elimination of the Gun Free Zone laws that are in fact Criminal Safe Zones,? wrote Pratt. ?One measure of insanity is repeating the same failure time after time hoping that the next time the failure will turn out to be a success. Gun Free Zones are a lethal insanity.?

^{Photo: AP Images}

Source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/13941-gunman-forced-way-into-school-shot-26-victims-multiple-times

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Action by 2020 key for limiting climate change

Dec. 16, 2012 ? Limiting climate change to target levels will become much more difficult to achieve, and more expensive, if action is not taken soon, according to a new analysis from IIASA, ETH Zurich, and NCAR.

The new paper, published today in Nature Climate Change, explores technological, policy, and social changes that would need to take place in the near term in order to keep global average temperature from rising above 2?C, a target supported by more than 190 countries as a global limit to avoid dangerous climate change. This study for the first time comprehensively quantifies the costs and risks of greenhouse gas emissions surpassing critical thresholds by 2020. The findings of the study are particularly important given the failure of the recent climate negotiations in Doha to decide to increase mitigation action before 2020.

The authors show that the 2?C target could still be reached even if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced before 2020, but only at very high cost, with higher climate risks, and under exceedingly optimistic assumptions about future technologies. The more emissions are reduced in the near term, the more options will be available in the long run and, by extension, the cheaper it will be to reach international climate targets.

"We wanted to know what needs to be done by 2020 in order to be able to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius for the entire twenty-first century," says Joeri Rogelj, lead author of the paper and researcher at ETH Zurich. The team of researchers analyzed a large array of potential scenarios for limiting global temperature rise to 2 ?C above preindustrial levels, a target set by international climate agreements.

Projections based on current national emissions pledges suggest that global carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions will reach 55 gigatons (billion metric tons, Gt) or more per year in 2020, up from approximately 50 Gt today. At such levels, it would still be possible to reach the 2?C target in the long term, though it would be more difficult and expensive than if near-term emissions were lower.

For instance, nuclear power would need to remain on the table as a mitigation option, or people would need to quickly adopt advanced technology strategies, including electric vehicles and highly efficient energy end-use technologies such as appliances, buildings, and transportation. Meanwhile, coal-fired power plants would need to be rapidly shut down and replaced with other energy sources. IIASA Energy Program Leader Keywan Riahi, who also worked on the study, says, "You would need to shut down a coal power plant each week for ten years if you still wanted to reach the two-degree Celsius target."

"If we want to keep as many options open as possible, we should aim to reduce global emissions to 41 to 47 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2020," says Rogelj. According to the study, the only way to meet the long-term temperature target without carbon capture and storage is to ensure that emissions fall within this near-term range.

"What we do over the next eight years really determines the feasibility and choices that we have in the long term," says Riahi. "Some of these options for policies and technological change are still choices, such as phasing out nuclear power. We lose these choices if we overshoot certain thresholds."

The study goes beyond previous analyses by directly assessing how high emissions in 2020 can go before the long-term target of 2 ?C is no longer attainable. "Under some conditions, the two-degree target is feasible even if we don't reduce emissions at all by 2020," says co-author Brian O'Neill, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. "But if we allow for the possibility that some technologies may not pan out, or are overly costly or have undesirable consequences, then emissions reductions have to start this decade."

"Our analysis shows that we are very dependent on key technologies like carbon capture and storage and on land-consuming measures like afforestation and the cultivation of crops for biofuel production," says Rogelj. "If we want to become less dependent on massive implementation of these technologies to make it below two degrees Celsius, we need to reduce emissions by 2020 and use energy more efficiently."

The study highlights the importance of reducing energy demand and improving efficiency as perhaps the most effective way to mitigate climate change this decade, echoing previous work from IIASA and others (Global Energy Assessment, 2012). In scenarios with lower energy demand growth, the researchers find a much greater chance that global temperatures would not rise more than 2 ?C, with much more flexibility in the methods and technologies required to reduce greenhouse gases.

"Fundamentally, it's a question of how much society is willing to risk," says IIASA energy researcher David McCollum, another study co-author. "It's certainly easier for us to push the climate problem off for a little while longer, but if we do that, then we risk that certain mitigation options may not ultimately be available in the long run. What's more, from the perspective of the global climate system, continuing to pump high levels of emissions into the atmosphere over the next decade only increases the risk that we will overshoot the two-degree target."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Joeri Rogelj, David L. McCollum, Brian C. O?Neill, Keywan Riahi. 2020 emissions levels required to limit warming to below 2??C. Nature Climate Change, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1758

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/VZyj0KACrwk/121216132501.htm

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Brooklyn's Interfaith Medical Center to Declare Bankruptcy?

Hospital officials said today that Interfaith Medical Center is planning to declare bankruptcy as soon as this week, according to the New York Times.

Interfaith, serving Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, serves over 250,000 patients a year, mostly Caribbean-Americans and African- Americans.

The Medicaid cutbacks of 2010 played a role, the hospital said.

About a year ago, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, DOH?s Medicaid Redesign Team/ Brooklyn Work Group found that Wyckoff, Interfaith and four other hospitals ?do not have a business model and sufficient margins to remain viable and provide high quality care to their communities as currently structured.?

The hospital hopes for millions in financing from the state, but officials told the Times that no money would be forthcoming unless Interfaith agreed to merge with Brooklyn Hospital -- something Interfaith officials say would be the end of the hospital.

In April, several groups -- including Occupy Wall Street's Healthcare for the 99%, the Granny Peace Brigade and Act Up -- marched over the Brooklyn Bridge for a rally about the Brooklyn hospital crisis.

OWS asked: Why did Gov. Cuomo appointed Stephen Berger, a Wall Street millionaire financier, to be in charge of restructuring health care in Brooklyn?

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

Source: http://mcbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2012/12/brooklyns-interfaith-medical-center-to.html

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Poinsettia Bowl 2012: BYU, San Diego State For Dec. 20 Matchup

SAN DIEGO (AP) ? After earning a share of the Mountain West Conference title for the first time since 1998, San Diego State will face BYU in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 20 at Qualcomm Stadium.

The Aztecs (9-3, 7-1) finished the regular season on a seven-game winning streak to share the conference title with No. 20 Boise State and Fresno State. San Diego State is just two years removed from its last Poinsettia Bowl appearance, a 45-17 victory over Navy in 2010.

The Cougars (7-5), an independent program, lost three regular-season games to ranked teams, including a 17-14 defeat to national championship participant Notre Dame. Four of the Cougars' five losses were by six points or fewer.

The Poinsettia Bowl pits SDSU's powerful rushing offense, averaging 229 yards per game, against a BYU defense allowing just 14.7 points per game.

The Poinsettia Bowl is sponsored by San Diego County Credit Union.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/02/poinsettia-bowl-2012-byu-san-diego-state_n_2228789.html

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One father's quest against the misogynistic underbelly of the gaming ...

One father?s quest against the misogynistic underbelly of the gaming?community

Posted by mcclungsonline on November 30, 2012 ? Leave a Comment?

When it got out that Mike Hoye altered the code in the Legend of Zelda game The Wind Waker?to change protagonist Link?s masculine pronouns to feminine ones, he didn?t receive as many death?threats as he thought he would.

?But not none,? he adds. His family and his three-year-old daughter specifically have been?threatened as a result of his decision to do something to make his daughter feel less alienated by a?game.

Women are still generally regarded as ?the other? in the video game community. Sites like?Fat, Ugly, or Slutty?and?Not In?The Kitchen Anymore chronicle the misogynistic abuse women have to deal with when they engage?in their hobby online. Games are usually marketed to men with male protagonists, and women are?NPCs ? non-player characters ? or exist only for eye candy.

?Since I have a daughter growing up who seems to like Dad?s hobbies, I thought there was a?small thing that I could do about that,? Hoye says. When his daughter played the game, she started?identifying with Link as being herself ? she was the one who was saving people and fighting monsters.

He started out reading the dialogue and changing the pronouns as he went, but wanted to make it?easier on himself and for his daughter, since she was reaching reading age. He decided to go in and?change the code itself.

?I?ve been working with computers for a long time and you don?t usually stay in this career for?very long unless you can get obsessive about stuff like this,? he says.

Eventually he succeeded and put?the code up on his personal blog. After that, it took off. The story was reposted in various places,?picked up by Reddit, and then started appearing on sites like Kotaku and Hack a Day. The response to?the story has been polarizing: Hoye says he gets people calling him dad of the year, but there are also?the people who threaten his family.

?The pushback I?ve gotten about this has been remarkable,? he says. It?s not the first time that?there?s been an extreme negative reaction to people who want to change video games ? particularly?changes regarding women?s involvement or depiction. When Anita Sarkeesian started a?Kickstarter page?for a planned video series about women in video games, she received death threats, there was an?organized attempt to get her Kickstarter page taken down, her Wikipedia page was vandalized, and one?person created a game where the point was to punch her face until the screen went red. When?BioWare writer Jennifer Hepler said that she didn?t play video games and that games should have an?option to skip combat, she was also at the centre of a ?vitriolic?backlash. She was called a cunt, a whore,?and a bitch ? insults that are exclusively reserved for women.

But Hoye is fighting back against this hostility to women in the video game community.

?I did not expect this to take off the way it did. Since it has, I have been trying to use this as a?platform to make more people aware of the situation and I guess ultimately to show this is something?that maybe we can change and that we need to change.?

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Source: http://mcclungs.ca/2012/11/30/one-fathers-quest-against-the-misogynistic-underbelly-of-the-gaming-community/

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