Utah Rep. Mike Lee: Federal Child Labor Laws Are "Unconstitutional"

First Missouri considers a bill that would repeal child labor laws in the state, calling it an interference with how parents choose to raise their kids. 

Now freshman Republican Congressman Mike Lee of Utah is lecturing that federal child labor laws are unconstitutional, and it really should be up to states to pass rules.

Via Raw Story:

"Congress decided it wanted to prohibit that practice, so it passed a law. No more child labor. The Supreme Court heard a challenge to that law, and the Supreme Court decided a case in 1918 called Hammer v. Dagenhardt," Lee said. "In that case, the Supreme Court acknowledged something very interesting -- that, as reprehensible as child labor is, and as much as it ought to be abandoned -- that's something that has to be done by state legislators, not by Members of Congress."

Lee's reasoning was that labor and manufacturing are "by their very nature, local activities" and not "interstate commercial transactions." He added: "This may sound harsh, but it was designed to be that way. It was designed to be a little bit harsh."

The key Congressional law that addresses child labor is the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which placed a series of restrictions against the employment of people under 18 in the public and private sectors.

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law in the 1941 United States v. Darby Lumber decision, overturning Hammer, on the basis of the constitutional authority of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. It has hardly run into controversies since.”

Is Lee's lecture on giving child labor laws back to the states an opening for more states to consider repealing their own laws, and allow young children into the workforce?  Or is the GOP simply back to calling everything they don't like -- unemployment insurance, health care, public education, and apparently federal law -- unconstitutional?    VIA Care2

A Passion for Skateboarding: Creative Art Sculptures by Haroshi

If you have never heard about a Japanese wood sculptor named Haroshi, then read on:

“As a creator of amazingly beautiful wooden sculptures out of old, crashed and broken skateboard decks, Haroshi passed for a man of considerable resourcefulness.

His multicolored and meticulously sculpted art pieces simply astound with lifelike affinity, so in whichever way it’s even possible to mistake them for being real! In his works he stacks many layers with all piece elements being connected either in their original form or in shapes to form wooden mosaic, dots, and pixels. After that they’re cut down to size, shaven to get rid of the debris, and afterwards coated with a final glossy finish. And with a long-term passion for skateboarding, Haroshi even puts a broken metal skateboard piece in the center of each sculpture to give soul to the statue. You’d better see this bewildering craftsmanship and planning involved with the unrolling showcase:” GO HERE TO SEE MORE        Photo source

Enron whistleblower gets $1.1 million from IRS

Anonymous tipster alerted the feds to $600 million tax-evasion scheme. Yes, the bounty is taxable.

“A whistleblower who exposed a tax fraud scheme by Enron and Wall Street firms has been awarded a $1.1 million reward by the Internal Revenue Service.

The payout came from the new IRS Whistleblower Office, but was made under prior, less generous guidelines. Those older rules, which still apply in some instances, call for a reward of up to 15% of the money that the IRS recovers based on the information.

The whistleblower office was revamped in 2006. Now when whistleblower information about alleged tax cheating leads to IRS collection of unpaid taxes and the subsequent recovery amount exceeds $2 million, the whistleblower can pocket up to 30% of the recovered money.”  Rest of Story here

Expert explores possibilities: What was the Sphinx?

There has never been a satisfactory answer to what the Sphinx actually is or was.

“Anyone who goes to Giza can see for himself or herself that there is something ‘wrong’ with the Sphinx. It only takes an instant. The body is gigantic and the head is just a pimple. The Egyptians never did anything like that, they were always meticulous about proportions in their art. So how is it that we have this monster with a tiny head sitting there in the sand, then?”

There are several other things wrong with the Sphinx. They are: GO HERE

Corporations Versus Individuals: The End of the Left/Right Paradigm

Looks like the New World Order isn’t going to be a global Big Socialist Government (unless, perhaps, you count corporate socialism).

“This may not be a brilliant insight, but it is surely an overlooked one. It is now an Individual vs. Corporate debate – and the Humans are losing.

Consider:

• Many of the regulations that govern energy and banking sector were written by Corporations;

• The biggest influence on legislative votes is often Corporate Lobbying;

• Corporate ability to extend copyright far beyond what original protections amounts to a taking of public works for private corporate usage;

• PAC and campaign finance by Corporations has supplanted individual donations to elections;

• The individuals’ right to seek redress in court has been under attack for decades, limiting their options.

• DRM and content protection undercuts the individual’s ability to use purchased content as they see fit;

• Patent protections are continually weakened. Deep pocketed corporations can usurp inventions almost at will;

• The Supreme Court has ruled that Corporations have Free Speech rights equivalent to people; (So much for original intent!)

None of these are Democrat/Republican conflicts, but rather, are corporate vs. individual issues.

For those of you who are stuck in the old Left/Right debate, you are missing the bigger picture.”

Excerpts above from Barry Ritholtz at this website

Oxycodone on Ice?: Ice cream seller accused of dealing drugs

Momma watch your babies…

“A New York man has been arrested for allegedly selling illegal prescription drugs from his ice cream truck, making more than $1 million in a year, prosecutors said.

Louis Scala sold ice cream to children from his "Lickity Split" truck and would allegedly make stops at prearranged spots where customers knew they could buy pills, according to the New York Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

Scala, 40, is accused of selling more than 40,000 prescription oxycodone pills from his ice cream truck in the borough of Staten Island and heading up a 30-person drug ring that included more than two dozen runners to fill fake prescriptions, prosecutors said.

Another suspect, Nancy Wilkins, is accused of using her position as an assistant at a Manhattan orthopedic office to steal blank prescription pads and allegedly sell them for $100 a page, prosecutors said.

The phony prescriptions would be filled by runners who would be paid in cash or in pills, they said.

The ring earned more than $1 million in the past year, sometimes charging up to $20 for a single pill.”

Read the rest of the story here.

In Japan, the Mormon network gathers up the flock

The only thing that rivals the Mormon church’s ability to spread the word is its ability to cope with emergencies.

Within 36 hours of the earthquake striking off the coast of Sendai on March 11, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that all 638 of its missionaries in the country -- 342 Americans, 216 Japanese and 80 from other nations – were safe.

Within a few days, the church also had accounted for all but about 1,000 of its 125,000 members in Japan.

Photo - Fukuoka Japan Temple is the 88th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints        

Full Story

Experts say ‘Don’t worry’ as tiny amounts of Japan's radiation reachs California

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

First readings are 'about a billion times beneath levels that would be health threatening'

Call me paranoid, but I think our media is covering up some information about what’s really happening, while spoon-feeding us facts very slowly.

That part about “first readings” has sinister implications for the future. Maybe it’s just me, but I have an uneasy feeling that before this crisis is under control there will be health-threatening levels of radiation hitting up and down the entire West Coast.

Forget ‘Bad Moon rising’: It's a 'Supermoon' rising, the biggest in 18 years

It'll hit closest point to Earth of year Saturday, bigger and brighter than ever

“Thanks to a fluke of orbital mechanics that brings the moon closer to Earth than it has been in more than 18 years, the biggest full moon of 2011 will occur on Saturday, leading some observers to dub it a "supermoon."  Full Story

PHOTO - The dazzling full moon sets behind the Very Large Telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert in this photo released June 7, 2010, by the European Southern Observatory. The moon appears larger than normal because of an optical illusion of perspective

Back in the USA: Nuclear industry lobbyists' clout felt on Hill

Nuke lobbyists clutter the halls of Congress like hyenas ready to spring into action if any legislation results from Japan’s Nuke crisis.

Twist this senator’s arm, pull that one’s finger. It’s shameful how some lawmakers are being lavished with thousands of dollars to turn their head the other way when it comes to the Nuke industry’s practices. 

                             Hoyer (left), Upton and Waxman have all accepted donations from the industry. AP Photos

“Facing its biggest crisis in 25 years, the U.S. nuclear power industry can count on plenty of Democratic and Republican friends in both high and low places.

During the past election cycle alone, the Nuclear Energy Institute and more than a dozen companies with big nuclear portfolios have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions to lawmakers in key leadership slots and across influential state delegations.

The donations and lobbying funds came at a critical moment for the nuclear industry as its largest trade group and major companies pushed for passage of a cap-and-trade bill.

While that effort failed, the money is sure to keep doors open on Capitol Hill as lawmakers consider any response to the safety issues highlighted by multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns in Japan in the aftermath of last week’s monster earthquake and tsunami.”   Full Story

Thoughts on Japan’s triple crisis, what other bloggers are saying about it, and how to maintain some normalcy in these trying times

I’m finding that Japan’s crisis is overshadowing everything else around me.

 Suddenly the rest of the news in the world and nation seems irrelevant. Everywhere I look on TV, and in the blogs, there’s something about what’s happening in Japan and anything remotely related to it.

That’s very understandable. We may be standing on the brink of a disaster that will make all other recorded disasters pale in comparison. The radioactivity levels escaping into the atmosphere, even as I write this, are spiking. No one knows for sure how high they are and we can’t trust the Japanese government or the company that owns the stricken reactors, or the world press – for 100% accurate information.

I remember the Cuban missile crisis and the run on supplies in stores. Even my normally unflappable father went to the nearest grocery story and stocked up on water and canned goods.

The atmosphere was a lot like it is now with the panic run on Iodine (for more information go here.) The same uncertainty. The same lack of accurate reporting. The same suspicions that we have now. The only exception is there’s more access to news sources worldwide to the average American today because of the Internet. (PHOTO - Empty shelves at a supermarket in Hiraizumi in Iwate prefecture.)

Humboldt bloggers who normally talk about all things Humboldt, are now covering the unfolding events in Japan as well as any news source you can go to. Here’s several good examples; Redheaded Blackbelt; Tom Seaborn Blog; and SoHum ParlanceII. I’ve been posting, off-and-on, about Japan’s triple crisis, but part of me has been thinking, “I need to get on with my life. I can’t do anything about what’s happening, so why stress myself out over it?”

The other part of me, the journalist, can’t get enough information on the subject and I’ve been reading headlines from around the world from the moment I wake up, till I retire at night.

Today, I’ve decided to ratchet my Japan crisis reading down. Just a few headlines and maybe an hour of news on the boob tube at 6:00 p.m. It would stress me out if I didn’t know what was going on. Not that I really have all the facts, but anything on the subject is better than nothing.

(PHOTO - An official checks a man at a radiation screening center in Koriyama, some 60 km away from the Fukushima nuclear facilities, on March 17)

Meanwhile, for those who have just been glued to the events in Japan, there’s some other pretty serious stuff going down regarding Libya! In shift, US now urges airstrikes on Libya (US urges UN to approve Libya airstrikes, no-fly zone) If we go though with the No-Fly Zone it’s an act of War!

 That’s right. The last thing in the world our nation needs is another OIL WAR!

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking to lawmakers in recent weeks, has cautioned a no-fly zone would be a risky operation requiring air strikes to cripple local air defenses. A draft U.N. Security Council resolution is going to be voted on today at 6 p.m. ET.

UPDATE 6:15 PST UN OKs 'all necessary measures,' no-fly zone to protect Libyans

This can’t be good. I’m not surprised however. Big Oil (draped in an American flag) will do anything to protect it’s worldwide assets. 

Last known photo of missing New York Times photographers

PHOTO - New York Times photographers Tyler Hicks (right, in glasses) and Lynsey Addario (far left), run for cover during a bombing run by Libyan government planes at a checkpoint near the oil refinery of Ras Lanuf on Friday, Mar. 11. The other photojournalists pictured, starting from second left are John Moore of Getty Images, Holly Pickett and Philip Poupin. Hicks and Addario, along with NYT correspondents Stephen Farrell and Anthony Shadid, were reported missing near lines of advancing Gadhafi forces two days ago, the NYT announced on Wednesday. Paul Conroy / Reuters

Does it make it easier reading or viewing the rest of the madness going on in this world? No. But it’s necessary (for people like me) in order to keep a perspective on what’s happening all over this planet.

In my overview, I try to balance the negative with the positive news – because both are always happening somewhere. With that in mind, here’s some stories that might even bring you a smile:

 This hapless sheep has become a real life ‘Ram-bo’ after inadvertently abseiling down a hill when its horn became snagged on an electricity wire.

I’m happy to report he wasn’t reduced to roast ram and walked away from this experience.

Read the whole story here. 

Ireland Exposed! St. Patrick Was Really French -

Erin say what?

St. Patrick may be the patron saint of Ireland... but he never even set foot on the Emerald Island until he was 16, and he was dragged there kicking and screaming.

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1. Sailor fighting U.S. Navy discharge after getting caught in bed with another male sailor says he's not gay -- they just fell asleep watching "The Vampire Diaries." Dude, you need to stop talking

2. Tennessee would like its own currency. But is meth a stable enough standard?

3. St Patrick's diet similar to today's health foods

4. Huge lobster saved from the pot