Sequestration Pushes Head Start Families To The Precipice

WASHINGTON -- Rhonda Reynolds was paying bills in downtown Pratt, Kan., on a hot and sunny mid-June afternoon when the second call came from her daughter's Head Start teachers.

Reynolds, 48 years old with shoulder-length blonde hair and a reassuring smile, jumped into her Ford Taurus and drove several miles home. It was 2:30 p.m. Just one hour earlier, those teachers, April and Misty, had told her they wanted to chat. Now they had called back, asking to meet in person and soon.

Eliot Spitzer: Great Policy, Arrogant Politics

Eliot Spitzer is a walking, talking political contradiction.

As the crusading New York State Attorney General during the Bush-Cheney years, he filled the regulatory void created by the most business-friendly administration in modern American history and renewed our understanding of the power of state officials to check and balance Wall Street.

Then, as New York’s governor, he crashed and burned his own career—and an opportunity to redefine states as the liberal “laboratories of democracy” that they were in the Progressive Era.

Edward Snowden on Why He Stood Up to the NSA: Mass Spying "Not Something I’m Willing to Live Under"

In a newly released interviewed conducted just before he came forward early last month, Edward Snowden explains why he has devoted his life to expose how the United States is spying on the world. Snowden says he thinks the biggest revelation to emerge from his leaks is the National Security Agency’s collection of all communications into and out of the United States — despite NSA claims that it only targets foreign traffic. Snowden also predicts that the U.S. government would seek to demonize him and accuse him of aiding America’s enemies. Journalist Laura Poitras filmed the exchange, and Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald asked the questions. "America is a fundamentally good country," Snowden says. "We have good people with good values who want to do the right thing, but the structures of power that exist are working to their own ends to extend their capability at the expense of the freedoms of all." Watch part 1 of the Snowden interview.

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Source: democracynow.org
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Snowden's Ticket to Venezuela: A Private Jet?

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have offered asylum to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is marooned in the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, trying to avoid extradition to the United States where he faces indictment under the Espionage Act. But if Snowden wants to go to one of those countries, will he be able to get there?

Cuba is the only country that a commercial plane carrying Snowden could safely land in without him facing the threat of US extradition—and en route he would have to pass through airspace belonging to the US or one of its allies, whereby the US government could force his plane to land based on extradition treaties. There is a route that Snowden could take to avoid crossing the airspace of Canada, Norway and the state of Florida, but he would need to charter a very expensive private plane to do so.

Incomes for Canada’s middle class stall

OTTAWA — Incomes of Canadian middle-class families have lagged behind some other groups due to modest wage growth, say briefing notes prepared for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, as the Conservative government closely monitors an issue gaining traction with all political parties.

Alleviating the financial pinch facing Canadian families, especially the middle class, has been a rallying cry for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in recent months and continues to be a common theme for NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.

Canadian Army goes back to the future with return to British-style ranks and designations

OTTAWA—The Canadian Army is marching into its past.

As part of the ongoing image makeover of the military, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced on Monday that the army will replace the Maple Leaf rank designation on the shoulder boards of officers with the traditional “pips” and Crowns in a nod to the country’s past.

The ranks of non-commissioned officers will also be returned to the original British Army and Commonwealth designations.

Train rolling too fast when it crashed in Lac-Megantic

LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. - Transportation Safety Board of Canada officials say the train that derailed in Lac-Megantic was travelling well in excess of its authorized speed when it careened off the tracks.

Officials with the agency did not say how fast the train was going.

The board's lead investigator, Donald Ross, told a news conference this morning the train started to roll after firefighters and an employee of the rail company that owns the train had left the premises.

A North America with No Roaming Charges?

Reports that U.S. telecom giant Verizon may be preparing to enter the Canadian market has sparked considerable speculation on the likely impact of a company with a market cap greater than Bell, Rogers, and Telus combined. While much of the discussion has centred on wireless pricing, the more significant development may be the shift toward a single North American communications market.

Canada and the U.S. share much of the same communications infrastructure -- the same North American numbering plan (calling codes), closely aligned spectrum policies, and easy access to broadcast signals along the border -- yet for decades the two systems have been separated through regulation. Foreign ownership restrictions, Canadian content requirements, and simultaneous substitution policies (which lead to the annual complaints about missing U.S. commercials during the Super Bowl) have all ensured that the two markets remain distinct.

How Not to Elect a Sociopath

It's an understatement to say that Quebec municipal politics has a credibility problem. The latest casualty is Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, arrested at his home last month on 14 charges of fraud, breach of trust, conspiracy and corruption. Applebaum replaced former mayor Gérald Tremblay, also driven from office on allegations of corruption.

The mayor of Laval recently resigned on sex and extortion allegations, less than a year after his predecessor was driven from office by charges of corruption and gangsterism.

BC's Affair with Troubled SNC Lavalin

The Kelowna-Westside constituency, where Premier Christy Clark and seven other candidates are running in a July 10 byelection, includes one of SNC Lavalin Inc.'s more visible projects in British Columbia, one that provides a reliable source of income for a company whose international reputation has been badly damaged.

The William R. Bennett Bridge across Okanagan Lake provides some $20 million a year from B.C. taxpayers to the large, Montreal-based engineering firm, whose former board of directors chair Gwyn Morgan donated $10,000 to Clark's leadership campaign and was on her 2011 transition team. Morgan resigned his position with the company in May.