Sock it to 'em--In the Los Angeles area Compton school district, two high school seniors are mapping court action, charging that the rotten conditions constitute a violation of their civil rights. They cite the run-down facilities, a grossly inadequate teaching staff, lack of English language courses for Spanish speakers, and more. The mainly Latino and Black students are wearing ribbons of various colors. Each color voices a major grievance. One student said he'd be wearing a ribbon but they ran out too quickly.

An opinion--The disgraceful conditions in the schools generally, and most particularly where the students are nonwhite, surely need to be fought against. But, we think, there's a core issue to be recognized--the fact that the existing education system is structured to condition young people for exploitation by employers, and to barrage students with the humongous lie that capitalism is forever, and nothing could be better.

Does sound that way--Banco Santander, which owns banks in 12 Latin American countries, successfully bid for control of Brazil's state-owned Banco do Estado de Sao Paulo.

A spokesman for Banco Santander said, "The success we had here represents our confidence in Brazil...and in the solidity of the financial system." Employees shut the state bank chain in protest against the privatization. At the stock exchange, 1,300 cops were mobilized to ensure a peaceful transfer of the shares.

What's a puny little gov't do?--"American Red Cross blood processing centers repeatedly have failed federal inspections over the last 15 years and continue to have problems that present a 'potential for harm' to patients, federal officials say." One official bleated, "increasingly tough actions have failed to correct the problems."--News item.

Taxing came before tithing?--"The [Russian] Orthodox Church has named St. Matthew, the apostle, as patron saint of the tax police, the newspaper Sevodnya reported. The tax police, who are known for storming buildings in black ski masks to conduct an audit, have had a public relations problem as did the tax collectors of ancient Rome, of which St. Matthew was a member."--Wire dispatch.

Obviously couldn't be the work--London researchers say that by the time manual laborers reach their 30s, they're twice as likely as other folks to experience hardening of the arteries. The researchers speculated the cause my lie in childhood, or in the womb.

'Us? No way'--In a classic capitalist response, top dogs at Bridgestone/Firestone moved to cover their collective rump They said their own investigation failed to clear their factory workers or--as a backup--Ford Explorer, of responsibility in the deaths of at least 148 people in crashes caused by the defective tires marketed by the company.  
 
 
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