Odd the company can't pay taxes but can hire Dennis Junior to sue others for their business blunders. Finally, didn't they receive tax abatement to bulid that architectual monstrosity? Let's face it the Murrays are a prime example of the old saying it takes one generation to build wealth and two to blow it all. Emmett and Thomas would be appalled. " .

The Drama Principle

School Me (a new feature in which I advertise areas in which I'm embarrassingly ignorant, in the hope that readers will fill me in faster than I could fill myself in by, say, making phone calls): Back in June, Ron Brownstein wrote that in California "liberal interests and labor unions ... hate the idea" of an "individual mandate" requiring everyone to buy health insurance. Does that "hate" hold true nationally? Is it grounded solely in the sentiment Brownstein alludes to--that "they consider it unfair to working families"? Or does it also have a more cynical, institutional grounding, namely unions' fear that an individual mandate would undermine employer-provided insurance and the role of unions in negotiating for that insurance? ... American labor has been relatively selfless, it seems to me, in lobbying for government programs (e.g.

Growth can be a nightmare

They put in months of time and effort to draft a comprehensive vision plan to improve this part of our city. It would make a mockery of their hard work and dedication to approve a project that would compound the poor planning that caused this location to be the problem it is today. Let something more acceptable be built to provide jobs.San Marcos, Vista and the Oceanside Planning Commission got it right when they turned down the Robertson's Ready Mix plant. Let's hope our City Council has the wisdom to do the same.Harriett BledsoeOceansideA thorough investigation is in orderIn light of recent revelations about Philip Zelikow's undisclosed White House ties, a fresh look at all the commissions and issues surrounding this administration is due ("9/11 panel member close to administration," Feb.

MotoSport signs for Southaven

A company specializing in motorcycles and ATVs is opening a new distribution and retail center in Southaven, the second major new distribution center to land there in less than a month.

Lazing in a luxury island paradise

I kid you not. We slide into Aitutaki's amazingly turquoise lagoon for a snorkel, then shoot to the surface yelping. Hundreds of tiny, electric-hued fish have just nibbled all over us.

Aitutaki is an "almost atoll" – part volcanic and part atoll, with Polynesian myth contending it's a giant fish tethered to the seabed by a vine from the air.

Major Weapon Systems Are Another Victim of Iraq

But a more damning set of figures emerge if one examines what has happened within the procurement accounts. In 2001, big ticket procurement items such as Navy shipbuilding and Navy and Air Force aircraft procurement, totaled nearly $35 billion (in 2007 dollars). Those activities accounted for about half of all defense procurement. By 2007, spending in those three categories accounted for only $38 billion, or less than 5 percent of the $60 billion inflation-adjusted increase in procurement spending.

Where is the rest of the money going? Procurement for the Army and Marine Corps grew from $12 billion in 2001 to $55 billion in 2007—an increase of 350 percent. The single category of greatest growth was "Army Procurement Other," which includes among other things, trucks, mine protection equipment, and High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles.