The Muslim "debate" on hostage-taking and beheading.

In the aftermath of Florida’s recent barrage of tropical storms, I am sure the “old poor� are slipping under the radar of powers that be, to utilize programs set up for the “new poor.� Programs no one would facilitate for the “old poor.� I saw this in full play after the 7.1 earthquake in 1989 in Santa Cruz, Ca., that collapsed the Oakland freeway. Santa Cruz at that time had a large homeless population. Then the quake hit. And suddenly middle class families were temporarily homeless, due to structural damage to the homes they owned. A shelter was set up at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, with beds, blankets, food and water. We had torrential rains after the quake, so the homeless population showed up to use these cots, dry blankets, food, etc., these things that were set up for middle class quake victims apparently. There was a public uproar when suburban families complained about having to sleep next to “bums� in the shelter. A move was made to separate out the “old poor� from the “new poor,� but it failed. The “old poor� just lied, saying they had been living somewhere that was now ruined. I remember the end result being something like the homeless population took over most of that shelter and the middle class people went somewhere else, probably motels, and the shelter was shut down earlier than it would have been if it had been used by middle class families instead of homeless poor folks.

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The "trial" of Rosemarie Jackowski, a 67-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran and antiwar activist in Vermont