The Kaul Courier

            USA Today did a story about a trend in rising Asian-American employment at a time when unemployment has been going up for every other racial group.
             I talked to Steven, an economics student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, who wants his last name to remain anonymous.  I asked him to read the article.  His impression was that the article didn't make any attempts to go beyond the stereotype.  It stereotyped Asians as better able to cope with the recession because they are "more educated" and retain cultural norms from their home countries that shun unemployment.  By centering the story around Asian stereotypes, and using quotes and anecdotes that support them, it is doing nothing but perpetuating the stereotype, Steven said.  He said he would have liked to have seen another side to the story.

by Greta Kaul

            Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher was endorsed by a second union in her bid for the 2010 governor's race endorsement from the DFL Thursday.

            The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 endorsed Kelliher after screening 10 candidates.  Kelliher was given the endorsement because she created jobs by overturning a Gov. Tim Pawlenty veto of a transportation package last year, according to the Pioneer Press.

            Last week, Kelliher was endorsed by the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), according to MinnPost.

            Other unions have endorsed DFL candidates Mark Dayton, Tom Bakk, Paul Thissen, R.T. Rybak and Tom Rukavina, MinnPost said.

by Greta Kaul

            A Minneapolis man became the sixth Somalian with local ties to be charged in a federal terrorism investigation.

             The investigation aims to find the recruiter of Somalian men to return to their homeland and fight with the terrorist organization Al-Sharaab Thursday, according to the Star Tribune.

            Omer Abdi Mohamed, 24, was indicted on charges of conspiring to provide support to terrorists in the U.S. Distric Court Thursday. 

            He was charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons in a foreign land on allegations that he "knowingly committed and caused" six men to travel from Minneapolis to Somalia, according to MPR.

            A judge said Mohamed could be released from jail but will be electronically monitored, must surrender his passport, and remain in Minnesota, according to MPR.  His lawyer argued that, as a new father, he is not at risk to flee, according to the Star Tribune.

            Mohamed is a permanent resident of Minnesota who has been laid off from his job as an employment counselor for the state, MPR said.

by Greta Kaul

            The federal stimulus watchdog said he would not vouch for the White House's claim that the stimulus saved or created 640,000 jobs Thursday.

            Earl Devaney, whose agency produced the data, said under questioning that accounting for job creation with reports filed by recipients of stimulus money was error-prone, according to the Associated Press.

            He added the administration should have been more skeptical of the numbers when it announced that the stimulus was on track with its goal of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010, according to the AP.

            Devaney told officials that missing reports and inaccuracies in reporting could drive job numbers above or below the projected 640,000, the New York Times said. 

            Rep. David Obey, D-Wisc., an author of the stimulus bill, called the data mistakes "ludicrous," according to the NY Times.

            A report by the Government Accountability Office found many jobs reported by agencies that had not reported spending any of their stimulus money, and many agencies that received large sums of money reporting no job creation, according to the NY Times.

            Devaney said that the downside to the transparency of the federal stimulus was embarrassment, according to the AP.

by Greta Kaul

            MSNBC reports that the Leonid meteor shower will peak between 1:00 a.m. and dawn Tuesday, Nov. 17.  This is expected to be an exceptional year for the Leonids, which are one of the most impressive meteor showers annually, the Baltimore Sun said.

            In Asia, as many as 200 to 300 meteors may be viewed hourly during the peak time, compared to 20 to 30 in the Americas, still an impressive display, according to MSNBC.  Viewers in urban and suburban areas will see less because of local lighting, however, moonlight interference should not be a problem this year because the moon is in its new phase.

            The Leonid meteor showers are caused as Comet Swift-Tuttle passes through the inner solar system, leaving debris, MSNBC said.

            If clouds prevent meteor viewing on Tuesday morning, Wednesday should provide viewers with a second chance, as the Leonids are active for a few days before and after their peak, the Baltimore Sun said.

by Greta Kaul

            President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said they wouldn't wait much longer for Tehran to accept an Iranian energy proposal at an APEC summit in Singapore Sunday, the Los Angeles Times said.

            The proposal, brokered by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, called for Iran to send 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium abroad to be converted to fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor, Reuters said.

            Iran agreed to the proposal last month, but has since created obstacles.  If Iran does not act by year's end, it will face harsher economic sanctions, according to the LA Times.

            Some Western countries, including the U.S., allege that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.  The proposal to outsource uranium would not leave Iran with enough uranium to make a nuclear bomb, the LA Times said.

            Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is waiting to determine the sincerity of the Western countries in talks before it responds to Sunday's comments, Reuters said.

by Greta Kaul

            In a Washinton Post story about cutting Medicare, the reporter writes about a $1.05 trillion reform package and $500 billion in cuts.  These numbers are so large that they're difficult to comprehend, but the reporter has few options: these are things people need to know, even if they don't understand the impact that they cause by virtue of the sheer mass of them.
            The reporter makes an increase in national health care spending more understandable by giving the number in the form of a percent: an increase of 1 percent over a decade.  This is easier to understand than a dollar amount would have been in the context for the reader.  The reporter uses different time frames, "$200 billion by 2019," and "Medicare spending per beneficiary would have to grow at roughly half the rate it has over the past two decades...", which makes it hard for the reader to put together, perhaps, as a timeline in their head.
            Most of the numbers come from a government evaluation report, and are cited as such.  Some come from speculation by either the Republicans or Democrats, but are also cited as such.

  

by Greta Kaul

            Berlin celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall Monday.  Despite bad weather and heavy rain, thousands attended the celebration, NPR said.

            The anniversary is important because it marks a generation of young Germans who have lived without the twelve-foot wall that separated East and West Germany for nearly 100 miles, NPR said.  It stood for 28 years.

            One thousand plastic foam dominoes were toppled on the remnants of the wall to symbolize the fall of the Iron Curtain and communism in Eastern Europe, The New York Times said.

            At least 130 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall from East Germany to West Germany before it fell in 1989, NPR said.  In the days following the fall, 3 million East Germans visited West Berlin, the NY Times said.

            German chancellor Helmut Kohl said that after the shame of the Nazi rule in Germany, the reunification 11 months after the fall of the Berlin Wall gave Germans something to be proud of, according to the NY Times.

by Greta Kaul

            The Pawlenty administration announced that health care for thousands of poor and chronically ill Minnesotans would be shifted to a program for the working poor, the Pioneer Press said.

            The General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), which provides care to many chronically and mentally ill Minnesotans, will terminate March 1, the Star Tribune said.  MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance plan, will cover about 28,000 of the 36,000 recipients dropped from the GAMC.

            The GAMC provided $381 million in benefits to those who made under $7,800 annually, the Pioneer Press said.

            County and hospital officials called the shift a temporary fix, according to the Star Tribune.   Hospitals said that the new program could devastate their balance sheets, the Pioneer Press said.

            State residents cannot apply for MinnesotaCare after they have been treated as they could under the GAMC plan, the Star Tribune said.

by Greta Kaul

            A revised settlement proposed Friday would allow Google to digitize out-of-print books from English-speaking countries only, restrict the money made on them, and mandate a registry to seek copyright holders who do not come forward, CNET news said.

            Google insists that it still be allowed to scan "orphan books," whose authors are unknown or cannot be located, BusinessWeek said.  An independent trustee would collect orphan book revenues for up to ten years, at which point the money would be put to locating the authors of other orphan books. 

            Under the revision, readers will be able to preview and buy books on Google Books, CNET news said.  Institutions will be able to buy subscriptions, and libraries will have free access at some computers.

            Google Books' mission since 2003 has been to make books more accessible by digitizing them and making them searchable.  Since, Google has faced lawsuits and opposition from authors internationally, CNET news said.

            The U.S. District Court is expected to hear arguments for and against the revisal from groups like the Open Book Alliance within the week, BusinessWeek said.