NEWS STAND: Bankers Under Fire, GOP Blocks Reform, Walmart Faces Women's Wrath, and more

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Holding that Line: Goldman executives tight-lipped
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/27/1600918/under-heated-questioning-goldman.html

What did you expect? We don't even know why they're having hearings. Why ask liars, thieves and scoundrels who made billions while tanking the U.S. economy to tell the truth? Sure, the Goldman execs are the beacons of truth, which is how we got into this dire economic situation in the first place. After all of these years of lying profusely and getting away with it, why would they march into Congress and admit wrongdoing?

Status Quo Upheld: US Senate Republicans block bank reform bill again
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2712394320100427

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Are you surprised? We're not. The Republicans want to block something, anything and get away with it. Poor things. They're so used to running roughshod over the American public, that even when they should tow the line, they won't. Besides, they don't want to call out their boys, because some fingers might start pointing back at members of Congress.  Considering that 2/3 of the American public want financial reform, we think it's a misstep, especially as Americans watch the smug and arrogant Goldman Sachs execs lie through their teeth, under oath we might add. Score one for the Democrats in November. 

Trouble on the Horizon: Wal-Mart faces largest sex-discrimination class action suit in history
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63P42920100427

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Wal-Mart's back is against the wall with a Mack truck coming straight at it. Apparently discriminating against women by paying them less than men for doing the same job isn't going to fly anymore. Not only is it not going to fly, but also a federal appeals court has ordered that a class action suit can be brought against the retail giant. Translation: Wal-Mart is in trouble. The company that is notorious for mistreating workers, the environment, local and global economies may have to pay billions if found guilty of allegations including failure to promote women. What's at stake? Billions of dollars. We hope the short-term savings is worth the long-term fleecing that Wal-Mart is about to experience.

 

Freedman's Village: Arlington (VA) Cemetery was once site of a thriving black town
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/LOST25_20100424-222205/339842/

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The more we dig, the more we discover places where free blacks lived and thrived. One of these places is what is now Arlington Cemetery. Free blacks (former slaves) settled on land that was confiscated from Robert E. Lee. They built stores, churches, hospitals and schools on the property. Like Rosewood, Boley and Langston, Freedman's Village was completely self-sufficient until the government decided that it wanted the land back because of its view of the capitol and the Potomac River. Since you've heard this story over and over again in different places, you know how this ends.

44 Years Later: Malcolm X's Assassin is a free man
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/26/malcolmx.killer/index.html

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The man who took out one of Black America's most beloved icons has paid his to debt to society and is free. In fact, since 1992, Charles Hagan has been in a full-time work release program, living with his family and working 5 days a week while reporting two days to prison. Hagan was denied parole 14 times previously. On the day of his release, he walked out of the minimum-security facility located at West 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.  Hagan says he doesn't think the assassination of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz should have ever happened. Tell us something we don't know.

White Supremacist Attempts to Open Youth Club in Kansas City
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/26/1905192/sinister-ties-lurk-behind-under.html

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A White supremacist thought he would quietly open up an age 21 and under club in Kansas City until the residents spoke up and ordered him shut down. Charles Juba, the man who threatened African-Americans with a "swinging necktie party" and urged us to "swim back to Africa with a Jew under each arm," wants to entertain the kiddies. Who knew a hate monger could have such a soft side? We're touched, but not stupid enough to think that it would be just a club. Try child soldier boot camp 101.

Leave Me Alone: Jackson estate wins injunction against website
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g_YAUFK6t0xzwxrARzcGqIDS0DMQD9FBHQD80

We still aren't over the loss of Michael Jackson, so the proliferation of stories about people taking advantage of his legacy, makes us a little angry. Case in point, MJ's estate won an injunction against a web site using the name "Heal the World Foundation" with photos of the King of Pop. Trouble is, they have no affiliation with Jackson's Foundation of the same name, which he dissolved. I guess the lesson here is that if you wanna be startin' somethin', Michael Jackson can finish it, even from the grave. 

An Ass Act: Tiki Barber Surprised by wife's divorce suit
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/04/27/report-tiki-barber-slapped-divorce-suit/

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Tiki's on that stuff. Whatever world he's living in, we want to live there. Mr. Barber thought he could get away with having an affair with a former NBC intern, leaving his wife whose pregnant with twins for said intern, and gallivant around New York City with former intern, now girlfriend, while 8-months pregnant wife is admitted to hospital for bed rest. We hope the intern is worth the loss of his job at NBC and the financial beating he's about to take. We wonder if he'll be as desirable unemployed and with a net worth less spousal support and child support for 4 kids in NYC?  Maybe in his world, but not in ours.