Hotel owner tells ‘Spanish’ employees
to change their names and speak only English.’

post from Think Progress on 26 October 2009 12:40:00 PM. © Think Progress

The AP reports that in Taos, NM, hotel owner Larry Whitten is under fire for his treatment of his Hispanic employees:

After he arrived, Whitten met with the employees. He says he immediately noticed that they were hostile to his management style and worried they might start talking about him in Spanish.
“Because of that, I asked the people in my presence to speak only English because I do not understand Spanish,” Whitten says. “I’ve been working 24 years in Texas and we have a lot of Spanish people there. I’ve never had to ask anyone to speak only English in front of me because I’ve never had a reason to.” [...]
Then Whitten told some employees he was changing their Spanish first names. Whitten says it’s a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce.
“It has nothing to do with racism. I’m not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don’t know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything,” Whitten says.

Whitten eventually fired many Hispanic several employees for being “hostile and insubordinate.” He further angered the local community when he referred to people in the town as “mountain people” and “potheads who escaped society” during interviews with the press. Watch a video of an August protest against Whitten (which includes one employee named Marcos revealing that he was fired when he refused to change his name to “Mark” or “Bill”):

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/26/hotel-owner-spanish/

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Barbara's Daily BuzzFlash Minute for October 26,
2009

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 26 October 2009 12:30:07 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE

Hmmm -- "KING: Is our commander-in-chief dithering? HATCH: Well, I would never want to call my president dithering." But since your question has given me an opening to do so, "HATCH -- why not follow the advice of all of his generals and especially General McChrystal...we're exposing our young men and women over there -- a number of them have been killed, I'm not blaming the president for that, but we're exposing them without the proper help that they've just got to have." Why oh why wasn't HATCH as concerned when Bush/Cheney opted to leave Afghanistan, and not finish what they started in order to invade Iraq, just think of the hundreds of thousands of lives that could have been saved had the Repuglicans spoken up back then! The Repuglicans are slime balls, whining now, and never admitting they started this whole mess because they actually wanted to rule the Earth!!!

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/dailybuzz/824

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Reid Schedules 3:15pm (ET) News Conference to
Unveil Health Care Bill

post from Firedoglake on 26 October 2009 12:28:46 PM. © Firedoglake

Just in from the Senate Majority Leader’s press shop: Washington, DC?Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will hold a press conference this afternoon to give an update on the merger of Senate health insurance reform proposals.Today, Monday, October[...]

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http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/10/26/reid-schedules-315pm-et-news-conference-to
-unveil-health-care-bill/

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Obama administration official says Reid including
public option in health care plan is "dangerous"

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 26 October 2009 12:19:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

It's the children's hour apparently.

From CNN:

An administration official went so far as to call Reid's move "dangerous" but quickly followed by saying Reid knows his caucus better than anyone and will therefore have the support of the White House.

Yeah, you see, that's the thing. You really don't have the support of the White House if the White House is still running around blabbing to the media about how Harry Reid, and the public option's inclusion, are "dangerous." It yet again undercuts Senator Reid, and undercuts the public option. If the White House were serious about real health care reform, if they were serious about truly trying to keep the President's promises, they would do something about the incessant leaks coming out of this White House trying to undermine real health care reform. Then again, leaks intended to damage fellow Democrats, but not Republicans, have become somewhat of a trademark of this White House.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/AzYIUrEH25c/obama-administration-of
ficials-says.html

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IA-Sen: Christie Vilsack rules out challenge
against Grassley

post from MyDD on 26 October 2009 12:14:54 PM. © MyDD

Former First Lady Christie Vilsack released a statement today confirming that she will not challenge Senator Chuck Grassley next year. Excerpt: Commiting to a campaign for the US Senate next year requires more than the confidence that I have the right[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/vOo2SjdbNfg/09

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Lunchtime Poll: Who Wins Next Week

post from DemConWatch on 26 October 2009 12:10:00 PM. © DemConWatch

We're just about one week out. What do you think will happen?

The governors:

Online Surveys & Market Research

And for those serious junkies out there...

Online Surveys & Market Research

Read The Full Article:
http://www.Demconwatchblog.com/diary/2651/lunchtime-poll-who-wins-next-week

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Snowe: "Christmas might be too soon...I've tried
to slow this process down"

post from Daily Kos on 26 October 2009 12:08:03 PM. © Daily Kos

Olympia Snowe on Friday:

HUNT: When do you think Congress will have a final up or down vote on this piece of legislation?

SNOWE: Well, Christmas might be too soon. I mean this is a very – it's a very difficult...

HUNT: So it may slip over until next year?

SNOWE: Well, you know, there's always that possibility. I know that's not what the president prefers or the -

HUNT: You're not saying that's likely?

SNOWE: No, I'm just saying that that – you know, I would – nothing would surprise me because of the complexity. we're at at this point.

HUNT: But you doubt it'll be done much before Christmas?

SNOWE: Not much before -

HUNT: Okay.

SNOWE: We should give it the time it deserves.

The American people understand that. That's why they're apprehensive about the way in which we're going about it. They don't want it railroaded. They don't want it put on a fast track. They want us to give it the thought it needs and requires, and that's why I've tried to slow the process down.

All things considered, I don't think Snowe herself has actually managed to slow the process down. After all, the only power she has flows from the illusion that the 'R' next to her name could somehow make health care reform genuinely bipartisan.

But the fact that she's boasting about trying "to slow the process down," thinks that Christmass might be "too soon," and is trying to kill the public option with the Snowe Trigger should raise warning flags for any politician in Washington, DC who thinks she's an important part of health care reform. If they don't pay attention, they've only got themselves to blame.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/ZKGQ1JyG_a8/-Snowe:-Christmas-migh
t-be-too-soon...Ive-tried-to-slow-this-process-down

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Housing Industry Painting a Mixed Picture

Disturbing reports regarding the first-time buyer program…

In early 2007, after the real estate bubble began bursting and the extent of the problems from sub-prime…

Read The Full Article:
http://jutiagroup.com/2009/10/26/housing-industry-painting-a-mixed-picture/

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Newt Gingrich: You Can't Write Off Entire Regions
of the Country and Expect to Be a Majority

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From Washington Journal Oct. 25, 2009. As much as I hate to say I agree with Newt Gingrich about anything, I'd say he's right here. Gingrich is asked what he thinks about E.J. Dionnne's article Is there room in the GOP for moderates?. Gingrich says there is and disagrees with Dick Armey who has injected himself into the NY-23 special election and endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava.

It appears not everyone agrees with Joe Scarborough and Dan Senor that this Republican food fight is good for the party.

Read The Full Article:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/newt-gingrich-you-cant-write-entire-r
egion

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Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski: When
Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib Come Home

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 26 October 2009 12:00:29 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski

The Louisiana Board that licenses psychologists is facing a growing legal fight over torture and medical care at the infamous Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons.

In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired colonel Larry James watched behind a one-way mirror in a U.S. prison camp while an interrogator and three prison guards wrestled a screaming near-naked man on the floor.

The prisoner had been forced into pink women's panties, lipstick, and a wig; the men then pinned the prisoner to the floor in an effort "to outfit him with the matching pink nightgown." As he recounts in his memoir, Fixing Hell, Dr. James initially chose not to respond. He "opened [his] thermos, poured a cup of coffee, and watched the episode play out, hoping it would take a better turn and not wanting to interfere without good reason?"

Although he claims to eventually find "good reason" to intervene, the Army colonel never reported the incident or even so much as reprimanded men who had engaged in activities that constituted war crimes.

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.buzzflash.com/contributors/2102

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