Keeps getting safer—“Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems will build a second version of a nonlethal ‘directed energy’ weapon designed to disperse enemy combatants or rioting crowds with a painful beam of radio waves.”—Arizona Daily Star.

UK imperialism seeks comeback—For the first time since the 1950s, there will be a Rolls-Royce agency in Bombay, India. The luxury limos were the vogue there for nearly a century, with royal maharajahs using some for tiger hunts. The current buyers are expected to be maharajahs on industrial payrolls. The cars cost a bit under $465,000. At the close of WWII, popular resistance drove out British imperialism. But capitalism survived. There have been some modest economic gains, but harsh, massive poverty endures. The average income is estimated at $540 a year.

Stunning problems (That's a pun)—Taser International is still struggling to cook up a report on its ailing stock performance last year. Meanwhile, Amnesty International released a report documenting 103 deaths by the “safe” high voltage stun guns. Also, aspirin was needed with the disclosure that an Omaha doctor is participating in a federally funded study of Taser safety. Meanwhile, he's also a paid Taser consultant.

They need wheel barrows?—Terry Semel, top dog at Yahoo, took home a record wage package last year of $145 million. Reporting this, the Los Angeles Times pointed to the steady growth of the gulf between employees and CEOs.

From the wealth you produce—The Los Angeles Times quotes Brandon Rees, an AFL-CIO researcher: “The average CEO made 42 times the average worker's pay in 1980. That increased to 85 times in 1990 and is now over 300 times.”

Blotted blitz—Last month, West Bank Palestinians were subjected to a U.S. propaganda blitz. For three weeks, smiling children were on TV, radio, and billboards. The message? The claim that the U.S. had brought better water, health care, and schools. Initially, Washington had hoped to utilize Palestinian entertainers and athletes. No takers. If anything, this was an insult. In historic Bethlehem, huge cement slabs are positioned to thwart Palestinian job-hunters. On one slab, a graffiti proclaims: “American money. Israeli apartheid.”  
 
 
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