Hot off the Press: Freedom from unpainted nails edition

Here's a heartfelt piece about a aisle vendor at Dodger Stadium: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-erskine3-2009sep03,0,4959926.column. I saw this guy in action at the game I went to with my sister and her boyfriend; he was working the area where we sat. The guy can throw.

In case you didn't already hear about this, the Supreme Court is poised to grant corporations First Amendment rights to donate to political campaigns: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-contributions10-2009sep10,0,3399940.story. What I'm wondering is how this case reached the Court of Courts so quickly. It usually takes years and years and years and appeal after appeal after appeal before a case reaches the Supreme Court. From what I can tell, this case has only been in the court circuit for less than a year. More and more I'm beginning to think this country is a constitutional corporate monarchy — an oligarchy.

The UI's freshman retention rate is the worst among Big Ten schools, and ranks third out of the four major colleges in the Hawkeye State: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090911/NEWS/909110350. What's not mentioned in this article are possible reasons, especially the fact that this may reflect the party atmosphere that's come to prevalence in IC the last 10 years.

Levels of chemical contamination is on the rise in American tap water as government agencies have become lax in enforcing Clean Water laws: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?_r=1&hp. I love this quote:

“How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?”

NYT op-ed piece, co-written by Barbara Ehrenreich, about how the recession has hit blacks the hardest: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13ehrenreich.html.

Teachers in Kent, Washington are on strike because of class sizes, delaying the start of school: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13kent.html?ref=us. More power to them, especially since it's apparently illegal for teachers to strike in Washington and other states. How the fuck did that happen? I thought we all had the constitutional right "to assemble."

The mentality on Wall Street hasn't changed much during the financial and economic crisis: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wall-street14-2009sep14,0,5755720.story. I like this quote:

"Certainly the greed on Wall Street has not changed and will never change," said Richard Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities. "People come to Wall Street to make money."

A small Kansas town, severely contaminated by waste from ore mining, is looking for a government buyout to close the doors: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/us/14kansas.html?ref=us.