When you hear about the highly publicized raids on employers who hire illegal immigrants, you think…ahhh, the government is finally doing something about it. But what are they really doing? When you consider that there could be as many as 20 million illegal immigrants making up the “underground labor force”, how could we possibly make a dent in this? With 1,200 arrested over a 10 month investigation — at this rate, it would be the next century before we could round up all the undocumented workers.

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I guess in the world of the internet anything is possible, but “funerals online”? I would not have thought that anything as personal as a funeral would ever work on the internet. But it is and is steadily growing. There is funeralcast.com, and World Wide Cemetery (www.cemetery.org) which both offer online webcast of services. And, here’s the most outrageous internet offering… there is a website called SeeMeRot.com that purports to offer a “coffin cam”. It seems it’s a hoax, but someone came up with the idea. And, with the way our society seems to focus on the macabre, it could happen. The new development though on the web, in addition to the webcast of services, is a service that offers a whole new creative way to deal with the departed.


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In this morning’s paper, I was stunned by another usurpation of consumer’s power. Due to a little noticed Texas Supreme Court decision, Brainard vs Trinity Universal Insurance Co., our uninsured motorist coverage was made ‘practically useless’ by their pro-business ruling. This unbelievable ruling gives insurance companies incentive to deny payments on uninsured claims forcing Texas drivers to have to sue to recover damages. With Texas’ high percentage of drivers who carry no coverage at 20 to 25 percent, this leaves many drivers worrying. This is a perfect example as to why we should pay more attention to politics. Let’s look under the covers and see how this could happen…


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Just when you thought Bush could do no more evil, it’s only getting worse. It has been reported yesterday in the New Yorker that Bush has done it again. But this time, he may be in a bit of real trouble if this story turns out to be true. Sy Hersh, an investigative reporter for the New Yorker has uncovered a clandestine operation that is funneling “secret” money to the Sunni jihadists (video w/ Blitzer and Hersh included after article)–you know the same ones with ties to Al Qaeda and the same ones killing US troops in Iraq. This, of course, is a covert operation that follows the same ugly undertones of the iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration.

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An article in the Associated Press yesterday concerning lunchbox lead levels made me realize once again how the current administration’s policy of protecting big business is really gotten out of hand. This is just another example of what the Neo-con Republicans are capable of. This has to do with our children and their exposure to toxic levels of lead and in their lunchboxes no less. For any of you parents who send your children off to school each day, with their cute little vinyl-lined lunchboxes in tow, I hope you don’t read this article. It will make you sick.


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Have you ever wondered about the the close evolutionary relationship between chimpanzees and human beings and why we have evolved as we have and the chimpanzee has not? After the split of the shared ancestry of chimpanzees and humans, about 5 million years ago, the bipedal hominids or Australopithecus, formed our evolutionary foundation of modern man. What were these Australopithecus like? Were they hunters or gatherers or scavengers? What clues do we have besides fossil records to better understand our ancestors.

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