Poor Mojo's News Show No. 40 for January 30, 2007

Poor Mojo's News Show No. 40 (64 Kbps .mp3 6:56 3.2 Mb)

A daily roundup of things that seemed important.

It's a new kind of Truth

IT’S POOR MOJO’S NEWS SHOW! FOR TUESDAY, JANUARY THIRTIETH, TWO THOUSAND AND SEVEN

A DAILY ROUNDUP OF THINGS THAT SEEMED IMPORTANT .

THE BEAT THE PRESS COLUMN AT AMERICAN PROSPECT FEATURES THE VERY CURIOUS CENSUS DATA RECEIVED REGARDING UNOCCUPIED HOUSING IN THE US, AT A TIME WHEN EXPERTS TALK OF A REAL-ESTATE BUBBLE AND PRESUMED COLLAPSE... FROM THE ARTICLE:

The Census Bureau just released the data for fourth quarter of 2006. This showed the vacancy rate for owner occupied housing hitting 2.7 percent. This is up 50 percent from the 1.8 percent rate of two years ago.

This is big news. The vacancy rate for ownership units has hovered near 1.5 percent for 50 years. It had never previously crossed 2.0 percent. The most recent Census Department estimates means that there are more than 2 million ownership units sitting vacant. In most cases, this means that an owner is paying a mortgage on a home for which they are collecting no rent. Few homeowners can afford to pay a mortgage on a house in which they don’t live for very long.

SEEMS THE ALWAYS LOW PRICES AT WAL-MART CAME WITH SOME VERY LOW WAGES... CONSUMERIST SAYS Walmart MUST Pay $33 Million in Back Wages, AND POORMOJO'S NEWSWIRE EDITOR MOJO REPLIES, Which is still a fraction of what they owe people. One Worker WILL Get $39,000. FROM THE ARTICLE:

Steven Mandel, associate solicitor in the U.S. Labor Department's Fair Labor Standards Division, said the case -- involving nearly 87,000 employees nationwide -- resulted from Wal-Mart coming to the department in early 2005 and asking for a review of its overtime calculations.

"They had some concern that some of the practices were not in compliance" with federal wage laws, he told a conference call for reporters.

Mandel said the overtime settlement was one of the largest ever reached by the department's wage and hour division....

THIS IS POOR MOJO'S NEWS SHOW!

REMEMBER WHEN THE PENTAGON TOLD CORPORATE AMERICA TO STOP HIRING ATTORNEYS FROM FIRMS WHICH REPRESENT TERROR SUSPECTS AT THE CONCENTRATION CAMP IN GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA? WELL, CORPORATE AMERICA SAID, "RIGHT BACK ATCHA, BUNKY, AND WHY DON'T YOU MIND YOUR OWN GODDAM BUSINESS? FROM THE WIRE-SERVICE ARTICLE ON BOSTON DOT COM:

Two weeks after a senior Pentagon official suggested that corporations should pressure their law firms to stop assisting detainees at Guantanamo Bay, major companies have turned the tables on the Pentagon and issued statements supporting the law firms' work on behalf of terrorism suspects.

MOJO, OUR RESIDENT WORLD OF WARCRACK ADDICT AND CORRESPONDENT CAUGHT A FEW SEGMENTS OF THE TYRA BANKS TV TALKSHOW ON YOUTUBE ON A TIP FROM GAY GAMER DOT NET... FEATURED ON THE SHOW WAS A DADDY AND HUSBAND WHO ABANDONED HIS FAMILY TO RAID. MOJO'S COMMENTARY:

This is both sad and funny. The guy is ignoring his wife and daughter, which is stupid and negligent, but at the same time Tyra clearly has no clue what the hell she is talking about. Wait until the guy starts talking about how terrified he is of his daughter.

But then, to destroy his Warcraft addiction, they shred the install discs? It's symbolic, but useless. Those discs are used once to install the game and then forgotten about. They should make him delete all his characters, is what they should do.

IF POLLSTERS ARE TO BE BELIEVED, America IS WRACKED WITH SOBS, CRYING OUT: "Oh, God! God, make it stop, make it stop!! MSNBC QUOTES A NEWSWEEK POLL WITH HONESTLY AMAZING DATA. FROM THE ARTICLE:

The president’s approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll’s history—30 percent—and more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush presidency were simply over.

Half (49 percent) of all registered voters would rather see a Democrat elected president in 2008, compared to just 28 percent who’d prefer the GOP to remain in the White House.

THIS IS POOR MOJO'S NEWS SHOW!

A DAILY MAIL ARTICLE BLAMES TOM CRUISE'S FANATICAL SUPPORT OF THE CULT CALLED SCIENTOLOGY FOR HIS WIFE'S TROUBLE LANDING ROLES IN HOLLYWOOD. YOU MAY RECALL THAT PARAMOUNT TOSSED CRUISE OFF ITS LOT, DECLARING HIM BOX-OFFICE POISON. FROM THE ARTICLE:

Miss Holmes could not strike a deal to appear in the sequel to Batman Begins, despite starring in the original, but will co-star in the forthcoming comedy Mad Money opposite Queen Latifah.

POOR MOJO'S NEWSWIRE EDITOR FRITZ COMMENTS: Personally, I suspect her failure to get back into the Batman franchise is more easily attributable to how much she sucked in the first one.

PARENTS, WHO PRESUMABLY ARE PAYING RHODE ISLAND'S St. Rose of Lima CATHOLIC School TO INSTILL SOME DISIPLINE AND RESPECT IN THEIR CROTCHFRUIT, COMPLAIN THAT THE NEW LUNCHROOM POLICY IS MORE STRICT THAN THEY LIKE. ACCORDING TO A WIRE-SERVICE ARTICLE, THE NOISE LEVEL PREVENTED THE LUNCHROOM LADIES FROM NOTICING THAT TWO DIFFERENT KIDS NEARLY DIED CHOKING ON FOOD. SO, THE SCHOOL OFFICIALS NOW DEMANT TOTAL SILENCE AT LUNCH..ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE, Christine Lamoureux, whose 12-year-old is a sixth-grader at the school, said she respects the safety issue but thinks the rule is a bad idea.

"They are silent all day," she said. "They have to get some type of release." She suggested quiet conversation be allowed during lunch.

## C L O S E R ##

OTHER STORIES WE COVERED TODAY AT POOR MOJO'S NEWSWIRE:

MUSICIANS Onra and Quetzal are your new best friends

"72 Virgins" by Steve Martin

Moscow bans "satanic" gay pride parade

Defending the "Blasphemy Challenge"

67-year-old woman lied about her age to get fertility treatments to give birth

Al Franken leaves Air America -- Probably running for Minn. senator

The dependence of romantic drama on gender variables

Snakes eat poisonous toads, steal their venoM

AND

THE VIDEO FOR House of Pain's "Jump Around"

OUR THEME SONG IS AN UNTITLED PIECE FROM THE DISC "HIMNO NASIONAL" BY THE FIGURES, AVAILABLE AT FINGERPRINT DASH RECORDS DOT COM.

FIND US ONLINE AT P-O-O-R-M-O-J-O DOT O-R-G, AND FOLLOW THE LINK TO THE NEWSWIRE

THIS HAS BEEN POOR MOJO'S NEWS SHOW, I'M ALAN BENARD.