Because of the bucks:
Of course there were the drag queens, the marching band playing "YMCA" and the inflatable homage to the male anatomy atop a flatbed truck -- all the stuff that veteran Minneapolis GLBT Pride parade watcher Kirby Moore called "the silly glitter element."
But with thousands of people lining Hennepin Avenue, Sunday's 34th annual parade celebrating the metro area's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) community was possibly more about business than pleasure. ....
Volunteers riding in the Wells Fargo stagecoach tossed candy and beads to the crowd. A fleet of Saturn vehicles followed with water bottles and Frisbees. Ikea, General Mills, Chipotle, United Parcel Service and Affordable Granite and Stone of Minnetonka all had contingents in the parade.
"It's about the homosexual dollar," said Robert Lindquist, 40, of Minneapolis.
In the park, American Family Insurance, 3M and ING financial services had booths, as did Accurate Home Loans of Bloomington.
Julie Appel, owner of Accurate Home Loans, said she tries to get to several gay pride events every year. She said she makes more contacts at the Minneapolis GLBT Pride events than at any of the other events where she has displays, including the Women's Expo and the Minneapolis Convention Center's home and garden show.
"I've always thought it was a great community to be involved with," Appel said. "The most important thing is that they're very supportive of businesses that are supportive of them. That's why everybody comes to this event -- to support each other."
Show her the money.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
More Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth...
...can be expected from the precincts of Angry Bear, when pgl gets word of this:
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ...secured a landmark $1.8 billion lease of the Chicago Skyway in late 2004, and now he's considering handing control of Midway Airport over to private operators.
Likewise, state officials soon could be presented with an offer to privatize the Illinois tollway they simply can't refuse.
....Illinois lawmakers are exploring what likely would be an even more lucrative long-term lease of the state's 274-mile northern tollway system.
"There's clear evidence of the emerging trend for public-private partnership in infrastructure," says state Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg. "I strongly believe that Illinois should be on the front end of that curve."
The Evanston Democrat ....
So, even to the Democrats it makes sense?
Chicago, meanwhile, is serious about making Midway the first major U.S airport to be put under private control. A multi-decade lease could bring in billions, which Daley would use to build infrastructure, such as schools and libraries, and to shore up four city employee pension funds that face a combined deficit of at least $5 billion.
Of course! Gotta protect those public employee pensions.
"The mayor absolutely is on the forefront of this concept by virtue of the fact that, up until the Skyway, there had never been a privatization of a tollway in the U.S., while it's, frankly, very commonplace overseas," says Dana Levenson, Chicago's chief financial officer.
"I think, clearly, the Indiana tollway proved what we knew all along — that the Skyway was not just an isolated incident. I think you'll now start to see cities and municipalities across the country start to examine their 'portfolios' for what can be done, from a practical and political viewpoint."
Show them the money!
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ...secured a landmark $1.8 billion lease of the Chicago Skyway in late 2004, and now he's considering handing control of Midway Airport over to private operators.
Likewise, state officials soon could be presented with an offer to privatize the Illinois tollway they simply can't refuse.
....Illinois lawmakers are exploring what likely would be an even more lucrative long-term lease of the state's 274-mile northern tollway system.
"There's clear evidence of the emerging trend for public-private partnership in infrastructure," says state Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg. "I strongly believe that Illinois should be on the front end of that curve."
The Evanston Democrat ....
So, even to the Democrats it makes sense?
Chicago, meanwhile, is serious about making Midway the first major U.S airport to be put under private control. A multi-decade lease could bring in billions, which Daley would use to build infrastructure, such as schools and libraries, and to shore up four city employee pension funds that face a combined deficit of at least $5 billion.
Of course! Gotta protect those public employee pensions.
"The mayor absolutely is on the forefront of this concept by virtue of the fact that, up until the Skyway, there had never been a privatization of a tollway in the U.S., while it's, frankly, very commonplace overseas," says Dana Levenson, Chicago's chief financial officer.
"I think, clearly, the Indiana tollway proved what we knew all along — that the Skyway was not just an isolated incident. I think you'll now start to see cities and municipalities across the country start to examine their 'portfolios' for what can be done, from a practical and political viewpoint."
Show them the money!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
A very strange bird is a Pelican...
His beak holds a snootful:
Possibly drunk pelican hits windshield
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — The driver was sober. The bird he hit may have been under the influence. A California brown pelican flew through the windshield of a motorist on the Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County Thursday, and wildlife officials said the bird was probably intoxicated by a chemical in the water.
FUI?
Possibly drunk pelican hits windshield
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — The driver was sober. The bird he hit may have been under the influence. A California brown pelican flew through the windshield of a motorist on the Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County Thursday, and wildlife officials said the bird was probably intoxicated by a chemical in the water.
FUI?
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Out of the Closet
Soon available at the stock exchange of your choice:
MILAN, Italy – Nothing on wheels more personifies Italian style than the Vespa scooter, whose carefree spirit was immortalized by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck circling Rome's piazzas in the 1953 film "Roman Holiday."
The Vespa's familiar curved frame has a found a place in design museums and in the hearts of Europeans, who first hopped aboard simply to get around after World War II and who still cling dearly to its handlebars as they zip through clogged streets.
Now, as the Italian icon turns 60, the company that makes the Vespa is about to go public.
The move is a sign of Piaggio & C SpA's return to health after being rescued from the verge of collapse by Roberto Colaninno, the former Telecom Italia chief executive whose holding company Immsi SpA bought Piaggio in 2003 and brought the company to record sales in two years.
....An investor should be someone "who believes in a product that is a combination of technology, beauty, style, dreams and sport," Colaninno said. "We're not just about transportation, but about a particular concept of transportation, stylish, fun and luxurious."
Just the thing for Max and pgl to motor about Italy if they can't afford the privatized toll roads of Autostrada.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Career Breaker
Max Sawicky drove the steam shovel off the Indiana Toll Road into the ditch:
The Gov could just as easily contract out operations and management, but keep the tolls for itself.
To which the FLUBA Committee on the Obvious responds; that the $3.85 billion the state will receive from Cintra-Macquarie this week, are (twice the projected net) tolls. That the lease is a contract, and, that the same consortium will operate and manage the road.
From that position, head engineer pgl has been busy excavating the position further. The latest being:
...the state could also run the toll roads more efficiently with technology. But isn’t it evident that there has been a huge efficiency gain when the private firms can offer double the state’s reservation price as established by the Crowe Chisek discounted cash flow model? ....The alleged efficiency gain would have to come from Cintra and Macquarie being able to run the toll roads not only more cheaply than the government but also more cheaply than the other bidders if this were a truly competitive auction.
The emphasis in the above not only being the FLUBA's, but also it's point--made several times in the comments sections attached to pgl's posts--and we're delighted it finally penetrated.
Not that it had any effect on the quality of his analysis. As he later explains it away as graft:
... maybe the other 10 bidders refused to pay enough to the Governor under the table as he was so happy to claim $3.8 billion was better than his reservation price - a reservation price concocted by citing a really sloppy analysis.
Which would further extend the investors' break-even point beyond the $ 8.25 billion--in addition to the $3.85 lease payment, they've committed to $4.4 billion in maintenance expenses--and make it even less likely they'll profit from this deal.
Not to mention it is a casual slander of Governor Daniels, the successful bidder, and the Goldman Sach advisers the state hired to vet this.
No mind, personal slights will be overlooked when there's money to be made. And, according to pgl, there's plenty of that left on the table:
So the Governor – aided by what appears to be a faulty Crowe Chisek analysis are selling assets that may be worth $5 billion to private investors for only $3.8 billion. ...one might wonder of the Governor asked them to lowball the reservation price. In other words, is this some form of financial fraud imposed upon the taxpayers? Why would any responsible Governor be engaged in this kind of behavior? Oh but – we are talking about George W. Bush’s first OMB director.
The FLUBA Committee on Economists Who Insist on Flying Under Low Hangers, asks (given that the Ohio Turnpike is undoubtedly next in line, unless Texas or New Jersey beats them to the punch), when will Sawicky, pgl & Assoc. be entering the lists?
I.e., if you're so smart, why don't you make yourselves rich by getting in on the deal? Thar's gold in them thar tolls, you sez.
The Gov could just as easily contract out operations and management, but keep the tolls for itself.
To which the FLUBA Committee on the Obvious responds; that the $3.85 billion the state will receive from Cintra-Macquarie this week, are (twice the projected net) tolls. That the lease is a contract, and, that the same consortium will operate and manage the road.
From that position, head engineer pgl has been busy excavating the position further. The latest being:
...the state could also run the toll roads more efficiently with technology. But isn’t it evident that there has been a huge efficiency gain when the private firms can offer double the state’s reservation price as established by the Crowe Chisek discounted cash flow model? ....The alleged efficiency gain would have to come from Cintra and Macquarie being able to run the toll roads not only more cheaply than the government but also more cheaply than the other bidders if this were a truly competitive auction.
The emphasis in the above not only being the FLUBA's, but also it's point--made several times in the comments sections attached to pgl's posts--and we're delighted it finally penetrated.
Not that it had any effect on the quality of his analysis. As he later explains it away as graft:
... maybe the other 10 bidders refused to pay enough to the Governor under the table as he was so happy to claim $3.8 billion was better than his reservation price - a reservation price concocted by citing a really sloppy analysis.
Which would further extend the investors' break-even point beyond the $ 8.25 billion--in addition to the $3.85 lease payment, they've committed to $4.4 billion in maintenance expenses--and make it even less likely they'll profit from this deal.
Not to mention it is a casual slander of Governor Daniels, the successful bidder, and the Goldman Sach advisers the state hired to vet this.
No mind, personal slights will be overlooked when there's money to be made. And, according to pgl, there's plenty of that left on the table:
So the Governor – aided by what appears to be a faulty Crowe Chisek analysis are selling assets that may be worth $5 billion to private investors for only $3.8 billion. ...one might wonder of the Governor asked them to lowball the reservation price. In other words, is this some form of financial fraud imposed upon the taxpayers? Why would any responsible Governor be engaged in this kind of behavior? Oh but – we are talking about George W. Bush’s first OMB director.
The FLUBA Committee on Economists Who Insist on Flying Under Low Hangers, asks (given that the Ohio Turnpike is undoubtedly next in line, unless Texas or New Jersey beats them to the punch), when will Sawicky, pgl & Assoc. be entering the lists?
I.e., if you're so smart, why don't you make yourselves rich by getting in on the deal? Thar's gold in them thar tolls, you sez.
And if the wearer doesn't bathe...
A country with 400 types of cheese, and obsessing over its jeans...
Want to save the planet? Wear your jeans two days a week, wash them every fifth day, and let them dry by themselves. Or better still, don’t wash them at all. And don’t even think of ironing them.
This is the conclusion of a report commissioned by France’s environment agency on the ecological impact of a pair of denims.
.... The study, by the research firm Bio Intelligence Service, looked at the jeans’ life cycle, from material production to daily use of the garment. It concluded that a French jeans wearer would damage the environment the least by buying denims made of cotton from a country not too far from Europe with strict anti-pollution laws. Machine washing, tumble drying and ironing caused 47% of the eco damage the jeans caused -- 240kWh of energy a year, equal to using 4 000 lightbulbs, each of 60 watts, for an hour. Dry cleaning was “an environmental disaster”.
The report’s author, Nadia Boeg-lin, who suggested also minimising impact on the planet by giving jeans away or cutting them down to make shorts, said: “We focused on jeans but all the things we use daily are a problem ... just by paying attention to a few simple details we could reduce [greenhouse] gas emissions.”
Want to save the planet? Wear your jeans two days a week, wash them every fifth day, and let them dry by themselves. Or better still, don’t wash them at all. And don’t even think of ironing them.
This is the conclusion of a report commissioned by France’s environment agency on the ecological impact of a pair of denims.
.... The study, by the research firm Bio Intelligence Service, looked at the jeans’ life cycle, from material production to daily use of the garment. It concluded that a French jeans wearer would damage the environment the least by buying denims made of cotton from a country not too far from Europe with strict anti-pollution laws. Machine washing, tumble drying and ironing caused 47% of the eco damage the jeans caused -- 240kWh of energy a year, equal to using 4 000 lightbulbs, each of 60 watts, for an hour. Dry cleaning was “an environmental disaster”.
The report’s author, Nadia Boeg-lin, who suggested also minimising impact on the planet by giving jeans away or cutting them down to make shorts, said: “We focused on jeans but all the things we use daily are a problem ... just by paying attention to a few simple details we could reduce [greenhouse] gas emissions.”
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
No Free Riders
Update: [Gary Becker and Richard Posner dignify the debate]
On the Indiana Toll Road, unanimously says that state's Supreme Court:
The state Supreme Court, dealing a blow to foes of plans to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private partnership, rejected claims the deal is unconstitutional and ordered opponents to post a $1.9 billion bond if they plan to move ahead with their challenge.
Well, there goes the Angry Bear consultancy fee. Sorry guys.
On the Indiana Toll Road, unanimously says that state's Supreme Court:
The state Supreme Court, dealing a blow to foes of plans to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private partnership, rejected claims the deal is unconstitutional and ordered opponents to post a $1.9 billion bond if they plan to move ahead with their challenge.
Well, there goes the Angry Bear consultancy fee. Sorry guys.
Spear the Whales
Japan makes progress toward resuming the hunt:
The International Whaling Commission voted narrowly in favour of a future return to the managed hunting of whales at its annual meeting on Sunday. The vote, by 33 to 32, was a victory for pro-whaling nations led by Japan.
A worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling has been in place since 1986. Sunday's vote was the first favouring the resumption of whaling that Japan has won.
But the victory is only symbolic. In order to end the moratorium, pro-whaling countries need to secure 75% of votes.
....The motion that was passed was proposed by a group of six Caribbean nations including St Kitts and Nevis. It has no legal force but requests a "normalisation" of the IWC. According to the pro-whalers, this means returning to the commission's original 1946 mandate of regulating whaling rather than preventing it.
"The moratorium, which was clearly intended as a temporary measure, is no longer necessary… many species and stocks of whales are abundant and sustainable whaling is possible," read the motion.
The main justification outlined is that whales are now competing with humans for fish stocks, and threatening "food security for coastal nations".
The International Whaling Commission voted narrowly in favour of a future return to the managed hunting of whales at its annual meeting on Sunday. The vote, by 33 to 32, was a victory for pro-whaling nations led by Japan.
A worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling has been in place since 1986. Sunday's vote was the first favouring the resumption of whaling that Japan has won.
But the victory is only symbolic. In order to end the moratorium, pro-whaling countries need to secure 75% of votes.
....The motion that was passed was proposed by a group of six Caribbean nations including St Kitts and Nevis. It has no legal force but requests a "normalisation" of the IWC. According to the pro-whalers, this means returning to the commission's original 1946 mandate of regulating whaling rather than preventing it.
"The moratorium, which was clearly intended as a temporary measure, is no longer necessary… many species and stocks of whales are abundant and sustainable whaling is possible," read the motion.
The main justification outlined is that whales are now competing with humans for fish stocks, and threatening "food security for coastal nations".
'Guess We'll Just Go Eat Frogs'
Down in the Dumps in Dijon:
LONDON, June 19, 2006 (AFP) - The French are highly pessimistic about their country's future, with 85 percent finding their nation headed in the wrong direction, a survey of five European countries published here Monday showed.
The poll in the Financial Times newspaper, spanning 5,000 people across Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, found that Spaniards were the most optimistic, with 44 percent believing their country was on the right track as opposed to 45 percent thinking the opposite.
....Just nine percent of French respondents thought the country was moving in the right direction as it enters the final months of Jacques Chirac's 12-year presidency, ahead of elections in April.
LONDON, June 19, 2006 (AFP) - The French are highly pessimistic about their country's future, with 85 percent finding their nation headed in the wrong direction, a survey of five European countries published here Monday showed.
The poll in the Financial Times newspaper, spanning 5,000 people across Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, found that Spaniards were the most optimistic, with 44 percent believing their country was on the right track as opposed to 45 percent thinking the opposite.
....Just nine percent of French respondents thought the country was moving in the right direction as it enters the final months of Jacques Chirac's 12-year presidency, ahead of elections in April.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
It Tolls for Thee Reputations, Fellas
The FLUBA Committee on Economists Who Can't Be Embarrassed is having to work overtime countering the fantasy lives of Mad Max and pgl, neither of whom can grasp the concept of a profit seeking business being willing to pay to lease an economic asset in the hope of making that asset more productive.
Max's singular contribution being that the state of Indiana is 'borrowing' by leasing its toll roads for 75 years to a Spanish-Australian consortium of toll road operators. Though under pointed questioning he seems to have admitted that, no, the state will not have to return the lease payment ($3.85 billion dollars) to the 'lender' at the end of the lease.
pgl, is more interesting in that he's busy trying to deny the definition of economics; the analysis of alternative uses of scarce resources, as well as the basics of arithmetic. Even when it's been spelled out for him by another professional economist:
Cintra is paying $3.85 BILLION up front for this lease. And they expect a 12.5% internal rate of return. If I can still do arithmetic, that's more than $400 MILLION per year in net income from the lease.. From a toll road currently generating only $96 MILLION in REVENUE (before any costs). And Cintra will be responsible for the operating costs, maintenance, and at least some expansion costs. The more I look at the numbers, the more I think it's a better deal for the state of Indiana than I originally thought.
Explanations of what is going on have not been in short supply, and they include a New York Times Op-ed by Indiana's governor:
In much of the world, but only recently in the United States, private capital has begun to play a role, most often in partnerships with public authorities. ....
If it were merely a matter of getting hands on money today that would otherwise come in over the years, such partnerships would make little sense. The goal for states is to capture far more value than an asset would be worth if it remained in public hands. That goal is often not difficult to achieve.
The 157-mile Indiana Toll Road had lost money five of the last seven years. A principal reason was its antique pricing; tolls had not changed since 1985 and were far below what comparable American toll ways charged.
As a private citizen, I had always been intrigued to stop at a concrete booth and fish out a dime and a nickel to pay the 15-cent toll at Gary. As governor, I asked, ''What does it cost us to collect a toll?'' This being government, no one knew, but after a few days of calculation, the answer came: ''About 34 cents, we think.'' I said, only half in jest, that we should just go to the honor system and we'd come out way ahead.
Why would a losing enterprise with an underpriced product drift on in that way? Because it was run by politicians, who are rarely businesslike and deathly afraid to annoy anyone. So the state lost money on the road, postponed repairs and expansions and failed to install the electronic technology that makes toll ways elsewhere faster, more convenient and more efficient.
Just as many business units are more valuable if separated from their conglomerate parent, an asset like a highway can be worth vastly more under different management. When we offered our road for long-term lease, we received a high bid of $3.8 billion, cash, from Macquarie-Cintra, an Australian-Spanish consortium. The highest estimate of the road's net present value in state hands was less than half that amount, and even that estimate assumed regular toll increases of the kind past governors steadfastly refused to impose. Noting the road's record of losses, one finance professor remarked, ''If they'd gotten a dollar for it, it would have been a good deal.'' Instead, Indiana will soon cash a check that closes a gap most had believed insoluble. Future toll increases will be capped at the level of inflation.
Max's singular contribution being that the state of Indiana is 'borrowing' by leasing its toll roads for 75 years to a Spanish-Australian consortium of toll road operators. Though under pointed questioning he seems to have admitted that, no, the state will not have to return the lease payment ($3.85 billion dollars) to the 'lender' at the end of the lease.
pgl, is more interesting in that he's busy trying to deny the definition of economics; the analysis of alternative uses of scarce resources, as well as the basics of arithmetic. Even when it's been spelled out for him by another professional economist:
Cintra is paying $3.85 BILLION up front for this lease. And they expect a 12.5% internal rate of return. If I can still do arithmetic, that's more than $400 MILLION per year in net income from the lease.. From a toll road currently generating only $96 MILLION in REVENUE (before any costs). And Cintra will be responsible for the operating costs, maintenance, and at least some expansion costs. The more I look at the numbers, the more I think it's a better deal for the state of Indiana than I originally thought.
Explanations of what is going on have not been in short supply, and they include a New York Times Op-ed by Indiana's governor:
In much of the world, but only recently in the United States, private capital has begun to play a role, most often in partnerships with public authorities. ....
If it were merely a matter of getting hands on money today that would otherwise come in over the years, such partnerships would make little sense. The goal for states is to capture far more value than an asset would be worth if it remained in public hands. That goal is often not difficult to achieve.
The 157-mile Indiana Toll Road had lost money five of the last seven years. A principal reason was its antique pricing; tolls had not changed since 1985 and were far below what comparable American toll ways charged.
As a private citizen, I had always been intrigued to stop at a concrete booth and fish out a dime and a nickel to pay the 15-cent toll at Gary. As governor, I asked, ''What does it cost us to collect a toll?'' This being government, no one knew, but after a few days of calculation, the answer came: ''About 34 cents, we think.'' I said, only half in jest, that we should just go to the honor system and we'd come out way ahead.
Why would a losing enterprise with an underpriced product drift on in that way? Because it was run by politicians, who are rarely businesslike and deathly afraid to annoy anyone. So the state lost money on the road, postponed repairs and expansions and failed to install the electronic technology that makes toll ways elsewhere faster, more convenient and more efficient.
Just as many business units are more valuable if separated from their conglomerate parent, an asset like a highway can be worth vastly more under different management. When we offered our road for long-term lease, we received a high bid of $3.8 billion, cash, from Macquarie-Cintra, an Australian-Spanish consortium. The highest estimate of the road's net present value in state hands was less than half that amount, and even that estimate assumed regular toll increases of the kind past governors steadfastly refused to impose. Noting the road's record of losses, one finance professor remarked, ''If they'd gotten a dollar for it, it would have been a good deal.'' Instead, Indiana will soon cash a check that closes a gap most had believed insoluble. Future toll increases will be capped at the level of inflation.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Dutch Treat...
...their slackers to a minimum wage, or else:
The law will require people who have lived in the Rotterdam region for less than six years to earn at least a minimum figure to be stipulated by city officials.
The law will require people who have lived in the Rotterdam region for less than six years to earn at least a minimum figure to be stipulated by city officials.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
With friends like Kos, you don't need enemies...
sez Froma:
The [Howard] Dean who entered the 2004 presidential campaign was a pragmatic centrist -- the very sort of Democrat who could win a national election. As governor of Vermont, Dean was rather conservative. He held down social spending, much to the annoyance of many Vermont liberals. They used to call him "the best Republican governor we ever had."
....All that changed when Dean ran for president and started the first "net roots" campaign. The left-wing blogs embraced him, raising both money and his national profile. But instead of visiting the blogosphere as a friendly tourist, Dean went native. Before you knew it, he was transformed into a latte liberal and proceeded to lose the nomination to the ineffective John Kerry.
We don't want that to happen to Ned Lamont, who is challenging Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary. The blogs have turned the Greenwich entrepreneur into a serious contender, and bless them for that. But now things get dangerous. Lamont is running a television ad in which he is joined by jubilant young supporters, including the DailyKos's Markos Moulitsas, who mugs at length for camera. That's cute, but stop right there.
Lamont is the best kind of liberal candidate. He's for universal health coverage and all the other good things, but comes at the issues from a sophisticated business perspective. It's not healthy for his campaign to become overly identified with the hothead dramatics and childish expletives of the lefty blogs.
The [Howard] Dean who entered the 2004 presidential campaign was a pragmatic centrist -- the very sort of Democrat who could win a national election. As governor of Vermont, Dean was rather conservative. He held down social spending, much to the annoyance of many Vermont liberals. They used to call him "the best Republican governor we ever had."
....All that changed when Dean ran for president and started the first "net roots" campaign. The left-wing blogs embraced him, raising both money and his national profile. But instead of visiting the blogosphere as a friendly tourist, Dean went native. Before you knew it, he was transformed into a latte liberal and proceeded to lose the nomination to the ineffective John Kerry.
We don't want that to happen to Ned Lamont, who is challenging Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary. The blogs have turned the Greenwich entrepreneur into a serious contender, and bless them for that. But now things get dangerous. Lamont is running a television ad in which he is joined by jubilant young supporters, including the DailyKos's Markos Moulitsas, who mugs at length for camera. That's cute, but stop right there.
Lamont is the best kind of liberal candidate. He's for universal health coverage and all the other good things, but comes at the issues from a sophisticated business perspective. It's not healthy for his campaign to become overly identified with the hothead dramatics and childish expletives of the lefty blogs.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Beer Is Your Life
Says the British Ambassador to football fans:
NUREMBERG - German police bracing for England's next World Cup match said Wednesday they were encouraged by English fans' behaviour so far, while the British ambassador reminded them that modern Germany "has nothing in common" with its Nazi past.
....Britain's ambassador to Germany, Sir Peter Torry, urged England fans to behave in another way, too - by restraining the urge to view Germany through the prism of Nazism.
"Many people will associate Nuremberg with its Nazi past," Torry wrote in an article for England team fanzine Free Lions. "But no country has dealt as honestly and comprehensively with its past as modern Germany."
....He urged England fans to take in a more care-free Germany.
"Fans will be able to enjoy the German South: bigger beer glasses...Torry wrote.
NUREMBERG - German police bracing for England's next World Cup match said Wednesday they were encouraged by English fans' behaviour so far, while the British ambassador reminded them that modern Germany "has nothing in common" with its Nazi past.
....Britain's ambassador to Germany, Sir Peter Torry, urged England fans to behave in another way, too - by restraining the urge to view Germany through the prism of Nazism.
"Many people will associate Nuremberg with its Nazi past," Torry wrote in an article for England team fanzine Free Lions. "But no country has dealt as honestly and comprehensively with its past as modern Germany."
....He urged England fans to take in a more care-free Germany.
"Fans will be able to enjoy the German South: bigger beer glasses...Torry wrote.
Peddling the same ol' cheese...
...at Angry Bear, is head salesman 'pgl'. The above graph is designed to show abnormal tax revenues as a percent of GDP thanks to the tax cuts of George W. Bush.
But, as pgl well knows--thanks to the diligence of the FLUBA Committee on Truth in Packaging--the decline in revenues from over 20% in 2000 is merely regression to the six decade post WWII mean of slightly over 18%.
The Federal government has never been able to sustain revenues of even 19% of GDP. Using the dot.com boom years as a baseline is fundamentally dishonest.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
More French Socialists Learning Economics
Another one (Jean Paul Sarte's ami) bites the dust:
PARIS, June 13, 2006 (AFP) - Serge July, historic founder of the left-wing French newspaper Libération, was poised to resign Tuesday after a row with the principal share-holder Edouard de Rothschild over the paper's mounting losses.
July told AFP that Rothschild had asked him to step down as chairman of the newspaper. "If my departure can help the refinancing of the newspaper, I will not be an obstacle," he said.
.... Rothschild, who invested EUR 20 million in Libération in January 2005, is furious at the paper's continuing losses and at a meeting last week demanded July's resignation as a condition for new finance, several French newspapers reported Tuesday.
....A 63-year-old former Maoist, July set up Libération with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1973, aiming to give voice to the counter-culture of the post-May 1968 generation.
Originally the newspaper was supposed to be free from the pressures of advertising and investor finance, but it has gradually had to accommodate itself to a capitalist economy.
PARIS, June 13, 2006 (AFP) - Serge July, historic founder of the left-wing French newspaper Libération, was poised to resign Tuesday after a row with the principal share-holder Edouard de Rothschild over the paper's mounting losses.
July told AFP that Rothschild had asked him to step down as chairman of the newspaper. "If my departure can help the refinancing of the newspaper, I will not be an obstacle," he said.
.... Rothschild, who invested EUR 20 million in Libération in January 2005, is furious at the paper's continuing losses and at a meeting last week demanded July's resignation as a condition for new finance, several French newspapers reported Tuesday.
....A 63-year-old former Maoist, July set up Libération with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1973, aiming to give voice to the counter-culture of the post-May 1968 generation.
Originally the newspaper was supposed to be free from the pressures of advertising and investor finance, but it has gradually had to accommodate itself to a capitalist economy.
Truth Out (on Jason Leopold)
The Fly Under the Bridge Academy's Shadow Jason Leopold Committee reviews the record:
And the denouement:
Thursday 20 April 2006
...Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the CIA leak case and introduced additional evidence against Rove, attorneys and other US officials close to the investigation said.
...sources close to the case said... that Fitzgerald told the jurors that he would soon present them with a list of criminal charges he intends to file against Rove in hopes of having the grand jury return a multi-count indictment against Rove.
Wednesday 26 April 2006
Karl Rove's appearance before a grand jury in the CIA leak case Wednesday comes on the heels of a "target letter" sent to his attorney recently by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, signaling that the Deputy White House Chief of Staff may face imminent indictment, sources that are knowledgeable about the probe said Wednesday.
Friday 28 April 2006
Despite vehement denials by his attorney, who said this week that Karl Rove is neither a "target" nor in danger of being indicted in the CIA leak case, the special counsel leading the investigation has already written up charges against Rove, and a grand jury is expected to vote on whether
to indict the Deputy White House Chief of Staff sometime next week, sources knowledgeable about the probe said Friday afternoon.
Friday 12 May 2006
Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.
Saturday 13 May 2006
Special Prosecutor Patrick ....Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of
the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning.
And the denouement:
WASHINGTON, June 13 — The prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case on Monday advised Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, that he would not be charged with any wrongdoing, effectively ending the nearly three-year criminal investigation that had at times focused intensely on Mr. Rove.
Monday, June 12, 2006
What's in a name can get you in Dutch
AMSTERDAM – The Love of Fellow Man, Freedom and Diversity party, which grew out of the paedophile movement, was told on Friday by a judge in The Hague to change its acronym, NVD.
A security company, NVD in Haarlem, had brought a case against the party in a bid to stop it from using the abbreviation. The company said that it had incurred damages because of the paedophile party’s use of the acronym. Clients had indicated that they did not want the company’s logo on their property, and some employees had also said that they did not want to wear the company uniform with the letters NVD, for fear of being confused with the ‘paedo-party’.
The judge ordered the party to remove
the abbreviation from its registration with the chamber of commerce and in its statutes and to change its Internet domain name. He gave the party three days to comply.
The Love of Fellow Man, Freedom and Diversity party is controversial because it stands for the legalization of sex between adults and children older than 12 years (the present legal age of consent is 16).
Friday, June 09, 2006
Desverguenza...
...is the closest the Fly Under the Bridge Academy Committee on Chutzpah can come in Spanish to describe:
MADRID — One the 29 people accused in connection with the Madrid bombings attempted to claim compensation for his step-daughter was among the 191 victims.
Morrocan Abdenneri Esabar, 41, was arrested last year and has been accused of trying to send recruits to Iraq to fight in the insurgency. Authorities have discovered he has claimed compensation for his step-daughter who was one of 65 people who died at the Pozo de Tío Raimundo station.
....The Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported the judge in charge of the inquiry Juan del Olmo turned down the request.
MADRID — One the 29 people accused in connection with the Madrid bombings attempted to claim compensation for his step-daughter was among the 191 victims.
Morrocan Abdenneri Esabar, 41, was arrested last year and has been accused of trying to send recruits to Iraq to fight in the insurgency. Authorities have discovered he has claimed compensation for his step-daughter who was one of 65 people who died at the Pozo de Tío Raimundo station.
....The Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported the judge in charge of the inquiry Juan del Olmo turned down the request.
Pre-defending Ann
Irony abounds in the wake of the Matt Lauer assault on Ann Coulter. One time Coulter critic Dorothy Rabinowitz was two years ahead of her lambasting The Jersey Girls:
The core group of widows led by the foursome known as "The Jersey Girls," credited with bringing the 9/11 Commission into being, are by now world famous. Their already established status in the media, as a small but heroically determined band of sisters speaking truth to power, reached ever greater heights last week, when National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made her appearance at a commission session--an event that would not have taken place, it was understood, without the pressure from the widows. Television interviewers everywhere scrambled to land these guests--a far cry from the time, last June, when group leader Kristin Breitweiser spoke of her disappointment in the press, complaining to one journalist, "I've been scheduled to go on 'Meet the Press' and 'Hardball' so many times, and I'm always canceled."
No one is canceling her these days. The night of Ms. Rice's appearance, the Jersey Girls appeared on "Hardball," to charge that the national security adviser had failed to do her job, that the government failed to provide a timely military response, that the president had spent time reading to schoolchildren after learning of the attack, that intelligence agencies had failed to connect the dots. ....
The hearing room that day had seen a substantial group of 9/11 families, similarly irate over the Jersey Girls and their accusations--families that made their feelings evident in their burst of loud applause when Ms. Rice scored a telling zinger under questioning. But these were not the 9/11 voices TV and newspaper editors were interested in. They had chosen to tell a different story--that of four intrepid New Jersey housewives who had, as one news report had it, brought an administration "to its knees"--and that was, as far as they were concerned, the only story.
.... Who, listening to them, would not be struck by the fact that all their fury and accusation is aimed not at the killers who snuffed out their husbands' and so many other lives, but at the American president, his administration, and an ever wider assortment of targets including the Air Force, the Port Authority, the City of New York? In the public pronouncements of the Jersey Girls we find, indeed, hardly a jot of accusatory rage at the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.
....The day of Ms. Rice's appearance before the Commission, a radiant Gail Sheehy, author of "Hillary's Choice," beamed gratitude as she congratulated the host of "Hardball" for bringing the women on as guests. ....
Ms. Sheehy was hardly alone in her faith in the widows and their special skills. Their every shred of opinion about the hearings last week was actively solicited--as will be true, no doubt, this week. Asked what question she would put to Ms. Rice, if she could, one Jersey Girl answered, after some thought, that it would be, What did she know and when did she know it? ....
Little wonder, given all this, that the 9/11 Four blossomed, under a warm media sun and the attention of legislators, into activists increasingly confident of their authority--that, with every passing month, their list of government agencies and agents guilty of dereliction of duty grew apace. So did their assurance that it had been given to them, as victims, to determine the proper standards of taste and respectfulness to be applied in everything related to Sept. 11, including, it turned out, the images of the destroyed World Trade Center in George Bush's first campaign ad, which elicited, from some of them, bitter charges of political exploitation.
....Nor can anyone miss, by now, the darker side of this spectacle of the widows, awash in their sense of victims' entitlement, as they press ahead with ever more strident claims about the way the government failed them.
The core group of widows led by the foursome known as "The Jersey Girls," credited with bringing the 9/11 Commission into being, are by now world famous. Their already established status in the media, as a small but heroically determined band of sisters speaking truth to power, reached ever greater heights last week, when National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made her appearance at a commission session--an event that would not have taken place, it was understood, without the pressure from the widows. Television interviewers everywhere scrambled to land these guests--a far cry from the time, last June, when group leader Kristin Breitweiser spoke of her disappointment in the press, complaining to one journalist, "I've been scheduled to go on 'Meet the Press' and 'Hardball' so many times, and I'm always canceled."
No one is canceling her these days. The night of Ms. Rice's appearance, the Jersey Girls appeared on "Hardball," to charge that the national security adviser had failed to do her job, that the government failed to provide a timely military response, that the president had spent time reading to schoolchildren after learning of the attack, that intelligence agencies had failed to connect the dots. ....
The hearing room that day had seen a substantial group of 9/11 families, similarly irate over the Jersey Girls and their accusations--families that made their feelings evident in their burst of loud applause when Ms. Rice scored a telling zinger under questioning. But these were not the 9/11 voices TV and newspaper editors were interested in. They had chosen to tell a different story--that of four intrepid New Jersey housewives who had, as one news report had it, brought an administration "to its knees"--and that was, as far as they were concerned, the only story.
.... Who, listening to them, would not be struck by the fact that all their fury and accusation is aimed not at the killers who snuffed out their husbands' and so many other lives, but at the American president, his administration, and an ever wider assortment of targets including the Air Force, the Port Authority, the City of New York? In the public pronouncements of the Jersey Girls we find, indeed, hardly a jot of accusatory rage at the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.
....The day of Ms. Rice's appearance before the Commission, a radiant Gail Sheehy, author of "Hillary's Choice," beamed gratitude as she congratulated the host of "Hardball" for bringing the women on as guests. ....
Ms. Sheehy was hardly alone in her faith in the widows and their special skills. Their every shred of opinion about the hearings last week was actively solicited--as will be true, no doubt, this week. Asked what question she would put to Ms. Rice, if she could, one Jersey Girl answered, after some thought, that it would be, What did she know and when did she know it? ....
Little wonder, given all this, that the 9/11 Four blossomed, under a warm media sun and the attention of legislators, into activists increasingly confident of their authority--that, with every passing month, their list of government agencies and agents guilty of dereliction of duty grew apace. So did their assurance that it had been given to them, as victims, to determine the proper standards of taste and respectfulness to be applied in everything related to Sept. 11, including, it turned out, the images of the destroyed World Trade Center in George Bush's first campaign ad, which elicited, from some of them, bitter charges of political exploitation.
....Nor can anyone miss, by now, the darker side of this spectacle of the widows, awash in their sense of victims' entitlement, as they press ahead with ever more strident claims about the way the government failed them.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Mauvaise Voyage
The recent interest in getting the incentives right in France doesn't appear to extend to the courts. This should be good for the travel and tourism biz:
PARIS, June 7, 2006 (AFP) - A French travel agency was ordered Wednesday to pay more than a million euros in damages to three tourists who were abducted by a Philippine kidnap gang during a diving holiday.
Stéphane Loisy, his partner Sonia Wendling and Marie Moarbes were among 21 people seized by the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group in the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan in April 2000.
They were held captive for more than four months in Jolo island in the southern Philippines, the stronghold of the rebel group blamed for a spate of kidnappings, murders and bomb attacks over the past decade.
.... The court ruled that the company had failed in its duty to monitor the risks in the region — and should have realised the Western tourists would act as a magnet for the kidnap gang.
PARIS, June 7, 2006 (AFP) - A French travel agency was ordered Wednesday to pay more than a million euros in damages to three tourists who were abducted by a Philippine kidnap gang during a diving holiday.
Stéphane Loisy, his partner Sonia Wendling and Marie Moarbes were among 21 people seized by the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group in the Malaysian diving resort of Sipadan in April 2000.
They were held captive for more than four months in Jolo island in the southern Philippines, the stronghold of the rebel group blamed for a spate of kidnappings, murders and bomb attacks over the past decade.
.... The court ruled that the company had failed in its duty to monitor the risks in the region — and should have realised the Western tourists would act as a magnet for the kidnap gang.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Grandmasters Behaving Badly
Over chess babes:
When Danny Gormally, 30, one of Britain's leading chess players, spied his Armenian rival and the world's No 3 at the Turin Chess Olympiad jiving with a beautiful chess queen, usual tactics were abandoned.
In a spectacular strategic blunder, Mr Gormally allegedly moved in with clenched fist and sent Levon Aronian, the 23-year-old Armenian national hero, sprawling.
As gambits go, it was to prove one of the worst. Not only did Mr Gormally sacrifice both his dignity and place in the team, but the following day found himself at the wrong end of a beating as Mr Aronian's hot-headed team-mates weighed in with a forceful counter-attack.
....According to insiders, the catalyst for this whole sorry affair was the appearance on the dance floor of attractive Australian female No 3, Arianne Caoili, 19, whom Mr Gormally's team-mates believed him to be fond of.
Neither shy nor retiring, Miss Caoili, of Filipino descent and who aspires to be a professional singer, is clearly intent on enjoying life. Her website lists her likes as "getting up to no good", "fine food and fine boys", "Edward Norton and Johnny Depp" and "Pina coladas, vodka, red wine, Kahlua, dwarfs and the odd Cuban cigar".
Apart from improving her chess, which she has been playing since she was five, her ambitions include earning "giant gobs of money".
Clearly a party girl, she had a reputation, according to one source on the chess circuit, "for coming back at 2am and waking people up, then having recharged her batteries, leaving again at 5am".
....Miss Caoili is currently voted No 7 in the Top Ten Women's Chess Beauty Contest on a website dedicated to the charms of chess's female finest in terms of looks if not always in terms of rankings.
When Danny Gormally, 30, one of Britain's leading chess players, spied his Armenian rival and the world's No 3 at the Turin Chess Olympiad jiving with a beautiful chess queen, usual tactics were abandoned.
In a spectacular strategic blunder, Mr Gormally allegedly moved in with clenched fist and sent Levon Aronian, the 23-year-old Armenian national hero, sprawling.
As gambits go, it was to prove one of the worst. Not only did Mr Gormally sacrifice both his dignity and place in the team, but the following day found himself at the wrong end of a beating as Mr Aronian's hot-headed team-mates weighed in with a forceful counter-attack.
....According to insiders, the catalyst for this whole sorry affair was the appearance on the dance floor of attractive Australian female No 3, Arianne Caoili, 19, whom Mr Gormally's team-mates believed him to be fond of.
Neither shy nor retiring, Miss Caoili, of Filipino descent and who aspires to be a professional singer, is clearly intent on enjoying life. Her website lists her likes as "getting up to no good", "fine food and fine boys", "Edward Norton and Johnny Depp" and "Pina coladas, vodka, red wine, Kahlua, dwarfs and the odd Cuban cigar".
Apart from improving her chess, which she has been playing since she was five, her ambitions include earning "giant gobs of money".
Clearly a party girl, she had a reputation, according to one source on the chess circuit, "for coming back at 2am and waking people up, then having recharged her batteries, leaving again at 5am".
....Miss Caoili is currently voted No 7 in the Top Ten Women's Chess Beauty Contest on a website dedicated to the charms of chess's female finest in terms of looks if not always in terms of rankings.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Take un Vieil Aigri to Work Day
The French continue to discover the power of incentives:
PARIS, June 6, 2006 (AFP) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin unveiled proposals Tuesday aimed at boosting employment among older workers, notably via the creation of a new medium-term jobs contract.
Available to unemployed over 57 year-olds, the 'Senior Fixed-Term Contract' would last 18 months and be one-time renewable.
...."We cannot accept the fact that some of our fellow citizens cannot find employment because of their age. Older people are an opportunity for our country," Villepin told a meeting of government officials, academics, employers and unions.
....However two large unions — CGT and FO — remain opposed to the measures, especially a provision to phase out a tax on companies that fire workers over 50 years old.
The government argues that the tax discourages firms from hiring such employees.
Other provisions — which are to be approved by the cabinet later this month before going before parliament — include financial incentives for people to keep working beyond their official retirement age.
The target is to increase employment among 55-64 year-olds from 37 percent at present to 50 percent in 2010.
PARIS, June 6, 2006 (AFP) - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin unveiled proposals Tuesday aimed at boosting employment among older workers, notably via the creation of a new medium-term jobs contract.
Available to unemployed over 57 year-olds, the 'Senior Fixed-Term Contract' would last 18 months and be one-time renewable.
...."We cannot accept the fact that some of our fellow citizens cannot find employment because of their age. Older people are an opportunity for our country," Villepin told a meeting of government officials, academics, employers and unions.
....However two large unions — CGT and FO — remain opposed to the measures, especially a provision to phase out a tax on companies that fire workers over 50 years old.
The government argues that the tax discourages firms from hiring such employees.
Other provisions — which are to be approved by the cabinet later this month before going before parliament — include financial incentives for people to keep working beyond their official retirement age.
The target is to increase employment among 55-64 year-olds from 37 percent at present to 50 percent in 2010.
Monday, June 05, 2006
DeLong on DeCaf?
Not enough java. That your problem, Bunkies?
The coffee you drink as a pick-me-up in the morning could also make you more open to persuasion, researchers say. Evidence from a new study suggests that this happens because caffeine revs up the brain, not because it generally boosts mood.
Previous studies have show that consuming caffeine can improve one’s attention and enhance cognitive performance, with 200 milligrams (equivalent to two cups of coffee) being the optimal dose.
Moderate doses of caffeine can also make you more easily convinced by arguments that go against your beliefs, say Pearl Martin of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and her colleagues.
In 2005, her team published a paper suggesting that the compound primes people to agree with statements that go against their typical views because it improves their ability to understand the reasoning behind the statements.
The coffee you drink as a pick-me-up in the morning could also make you more open to persuasion, researchers say. Evidence from a new study suggests that this happens because caffeine revs up the brain, not because it generally boosts mood.
Previous studies have show that consuming caffeine can improve one’s attention and enhance cognitive performance, with 200 milligrams (equivalent to two cups of coffee) being the optimal dose.
Moderate doses of caffeine can also make you more easily convinced by arguments that go against your beliefs, say Pearl Martin of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and her colleagues.
In 2005, her team published a paper suggesting that the compound primes people to agree with statements that go against their typical views because it improves their ability to understand the reasoning behind the statements.
Not Making Socialists Like They Used To
Now they say you're not working enough:
PARIS, June 5, 2006 (AFP) - France's Ségolène Royal — the Socialist presidential frontrunner who sent sparks flying by calling for army training for young offenders — has violated another left-wing taboo by attacking the 35-hour working week.
In a text published on her website, Royal says the 35-hour week introduced by a Socalist government in 2002 has had "mixed results for the quality of working life" — the main argument put forward at the time for its adoption.
The number of people on flexible working hours has jumped from 10 to 40 percent as a result, she argues, with employees facing longer working hours and greater time pressure on the job.
Royal said this had the "unintended consequence of worsening the situation for the most vulnerable, notably for women with few qualifications" who now had less time to spend with their families.
She also said the measures — and subsequent case-by-case negotiations on its implementation — had led to a "spectacular loosening of labour laws".
A law with unintended consequences!
PARIS, June 5, 2006 (AFP) - France's Ségolène Royal — the Socialist presidential frontrunner who sent sparks flying by calling for army training for young offenders — has violated another left-wing taboo by attacking the 35-hour working week.
In a text published on her website, Royal says the 35-hour week introduced by a Socalist government in 2002 has had "mixed results for the quality of working life" — the main argument put forward at the time for its adoption.
The number of people on flexible working hours has jumped from 10 to 40 percent as a result, she argues, with employees facing longer working hours and greater time pressure on the job.
Royal said this had the "unintended consequence of worsening the situation for the most vulnerable, notably for women with few qualifications" who now had less time to spend with their families.
She also said the measures — and subsequent case-by-case negotiations on its implementation — had led to a "spectacular loosening of labour laws".
A law with unintended consequences!
Go to your room...
...now that the principal has cleaned it out:
A head teacher has raised standards at his school by confiscating computers and television sets from the homes of under-performing pupils.
Duncan Harper, the head of New Woodlands school in Bromley, south London, visits the homes of pupils who are tired or grumpy in lessons and seizes electronic equipment from their bedroom.
...."We discovered that a lot of them had televisions and Playstations in their bedrooms. They were staying up till all hours playing sometimes quite violent games or watching unsuitable programmes."
He said some of the pupils were amazed to see their headmaster walking off with their possessions. "When we turn up they are usually absolutely gob-smacked. They are quite taken aback as like lots of kids they might think that adults don't mean what they say."
....Annie Blake, whose eight-year old son Robert Juniper is a pupil at New Woodlands, said she noticed a "complete turnaround", in her son after his Gameboy was taken away for a month.
Miss Blake, 37, said: "It is a fantastic idea. He wasn't happy about it but it sends a very clear message that he can understand: 'misbehave and you lose the game, behave well and you can have it back'. After being a child who didn't sleep, would hit out at other children, and would be sent home from his old school 10 minutes after arriving, he is now the happiest he has ever been."
....Another 11-year-old pupil showed a marked improvement in concentration and behaviour after his television was confiscated for a month, Mr Harper said, but soon returned to his old habits.
"He realised there was a problem and actually brought the television into school himself for us to look after."
A head teacher has raised standards at his school by confiscating computers and television sets from the homes of under-performing pupils.
Duncan Harper, the head of New Woodlands school in Bromley, south London, visits the homes of pupils who are tired or grumpy in lessons and seizes electronic equipment from their bedroom.
...."We discovered that a lot of them had televisions and Playstations in their bedrooms. They were staying up till all hours playing sometimes quite violent games or watching unsuitable programmes."
He said some of the pupils were amazed to see their headmaster walking off with their possessions. "When we turn up they are usually absolutely gob-smacked. They are quite taken aback as like lots of kids they might think that adults don't mean what they say."
....Annie Blake, whose eight-year old son Robert Juniper is a pupil at New Woodlands, said she noticed a "complete turnaround", in her son after his Gameboy was taken away for a month.
Miss Blake, 37, said: "It is a fantastic idea. He wasn't happy about it but it sends a very clear message that he can understand: 'misbehave and you lose the game, behave well and you can have it back'. After being a child who didn't sleep, would hit out at other children, and would be sent home from his old school 10 minutes after arriving, he is now the happiest he has ever been."
....Another 11-year-old pupil showed a marked improvement in concentration and behaviour after his television was confiscated for a month, Mr Harper said, but soon returned to his old habits.
"He realised there was a problem and actually brought the television into school himself for us to look after."
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Kinder, Gentler Than Your Average Bear
In Homer Alaska, the Reginald Denny of joggers says, the grizzlies have to be cruel to be kind:
[Mike] Mungoven and the bear stared at each other momentarily, and then the bear reacted.
"The bear got me across the shoulder first, then took a couple more swipes at me," he said. "I went down and curled up into a fetal position."
It was a move that Mungoven had been taught many times, and possibly what saved his life.
"It really worked pretty well," he said. "I just played dead. The bear came back and bit me a couple more times and then left me alone."
Mungoven said he speculated that the bear was possibly a female protecting her cubs, as he thought he heard some mewing sounds coming from the woods behind her.
"I really think the bear actually showed quite a bit of kindness in the way she mauled me," Mungoven said.
[Mike] Mungoven and the bear stared at each other momentarily, and then the bear reacted.
"The bear got me across the shoulder first, then took a couple more swipes at me," he said. "I went down and curled up into a fetal position."
It was a move that Mungoven had been taught many times, and possibly what saved his life.
"It really worked pretty well," he said. "I just played dead. The bear came back and bit me a couple more times and then left me alone."
Mungoven said he speculated that the bear was possibly a female protecting her cubs, as he thought he heard some mewing sounds coming from the woods behind her.
"I really think the bear actually showed quite a bit of kindness in the way she mauled me," Mungoven said.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Le Boot Camp?
It's printemps and young Frenchmen's attention turns to rioting. So, the politicians are competing with each other to enforce law and order:
PARIS, June 1, 2006 (AFP) - France's Segolene Royal, the Socialist frontrunner to succeed President Jacques Chirac, has broken ranks with her party by calling for a crackdown on youth crime that is set to rival the centre-right on its home turf.
....She charged that tough anti-crime policies led by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy -- the top centre-right contender in next year's election -- had failed to prevent an explosion of violence in poor French suburbs.
However in a break with her fellow Socialists -- who demonise Sarkozy as a hardliner -- the mother of four called for "a much firmer approach" towards young offenders.
"The left has long underestimated" the problem, she said. "Now is the time to tackle it head-on."
Military-style academies could be set up for young offenders aged 16 or over, she suggested, steering troubled youths into aid work or apprenticeships and teaching them "how to behave as citizens".
Herself the daughter of an army officer, Royal said Chirac's decision to scrap military service in France in 1996 had been a mistake.
For younger offenders, parents would be enrolled on compulsory courses at the first sign of trouble -- with social benefits scrapped for those who failed to bring their children back into line, she said.
Serious troublemakers under the age of 16 should be removed from schools and placed in special boarding schools under close supervision by teachers, sports workers and volunteers, she said.
PARIS, June 1, 2006 (AFP) - France's Segolene Royal, the Socialist frontrunner to succeed President Jacques Chirac, has broken ranks with her party by calling for a crackdown on youth crime that is set to rival the centre-right on its home turf.
....She charged that tough anti-crime policies led by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy -- the top centre-right contender in next year's election -- had failed to prevent an explosion of violence in poor French suburbs.
However in a break with her fellow Socialists -- who demonise Sarkozy as a hardliner -- the mother of four called for "a much firmer approach" towards young offenders.
"The left has long underestimated" the problem, she said. "Now is the time to tackle it head-on."
Military-style academies could be set up for young offenders aged 16 or over, she suggested, steering troubled youths into aid work or apprenticeships and teaching them "how to behave as citizens".
Herself the daughter of an army officer, Royal said Chirac's decision to scrap military service in France in 1996 had been a mistake.
For younger offenders, parents would be enrolled on compulsory courses at the first sign of trouble -- with social benefits scrapped for those who failed to bring their children back into line, she said.
Serious troublemakers under the age of 16 should be removed from schools and placed in special boarding schools under close supervision by teachers, sports workers and volunteers, she said.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Hiding Bin Laden(s)
Socialist governments grow the underground economy:
MADRID — The government made a plea to banks to keep tighter controls over the flow of EUR 500 notes which are used for money laundering.
EUR 500 notes are known in Spain as 'Bin Ladens' because, like the leader of al-Qaeda, everyone knows they exist, but very few have seen one.
In the first quarter of the year, the number of these purple notes grew 32 percent from the previous year to EUR 101 million.
Now the money-laundering prevention service Sepblanc say they represent 62 percent of all the cash in Spain.
According to the economy ministry, this is due to the rise in undeclared income in thousands of households and by increased criminal activity.
MADRID — The government made a plea to banks to keep tighter controls over the flow of EUR 500 notes which are used for money laundering.
EUR 500 notes are known in Spain as 'Bin Ladens' because, like the leader of al-Qaeda, everyone knows they exist, but very few have seen one.
In the first quarter of the year, the number of these purple notes grew 32 percent from the previous year to EUR 101 million.
Now the money-laundering prevention service Sepblanc say they represent 62 percent of all the cash in Spain.
According to the economy ministry, this is due to the rise in undeclared income in thousands of households and by increased criminal activity.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Better luck next time, guys
Still gamme after all these years:
NAPA, California, May 24, 2006 (AFP) - California wines trounced Bordeaux anew in an epic rematch of a historic blind taste test credited with reshaping the enology world.
Wines from California's Napa Valley wine region were judged best by the combined scores of twin panels, one in California and a second in London.
Judges on both continents gave top honors to a 1971 Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet from Napa.
....The highest ranked Bordeaux was a 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, which placed sixth out of the ten wines tasted in the anniversary recreation of the historic "Judgment of Paris" tasting on May 24, 1976.
Bordeaux wines took sixth through ninth places on Wednesday....
The event was "a wonderful sustained victory" for California wines because they held their own against the Bordeaux wine, considered the most elegant aging reds in the world, Vanneque said.
....A "pre-eminent European contingent" headed by renowned British wine writer Steven Spurrier tasted the resurrected vintages at the same time at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London.
"We now know that California wines wiped the boards with the French wines," Spurrier said by telephone from London.
"No French wine is ever going to compare to a California red," he quipped.
....The 1973 Stag's Leap Cellars Cabernet that won in 1976 placed a dignified second in the rematch.
NAPA, California, May 24, 2006 (AFP) - California wines trounced Bordeaux anew in an epic rematch of a historic blind taste test credited with reshaping the enology world.
Wines from California's Napa Valley wine region were judged best by the combined scores of twin panels, one in California and a second in London.
Judges on both continents gave top honors to a 1971 Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet from Napa.
....The highest ranked Bordeaux was a 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, which placed sixth out of the ten wines tasted in the anniversary recreation of the historic "Judgment of Paris" tasting on May 24, 1976.
Bordeaux wines took sixth through ninth places on Wednesday....
The event was "a wonderful sustained victory" for California wines because they held their own against the Bordeaux wine, considered the most elegant aging reds in the world, Vanneque said.
....A "pre-eminent European contingent" headed by renowned British wine writer Steven Spurrier tasted the resurrected vintages at the same time at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London.
"We now know that California wines wiped the boards with the French wines," Spurrier said by telephone from London.
"No French wine is ever going to compare to a California red," he quipped.
....The 1973 Stag's Leap Cellars Cabernet that won in 1976 placed a dignified second in the rematch.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Les Trouillardes
The big day came, but most of the French ducked:
SAN FRANCISCO, May 24, 2006 (AFP) - French wines dethroned by California vintages in a landmark blind taste test in Paris 30 years ago will get a chance to reclaim their crown on Wednesday.
A rematch of "Judgment of Paris," billed as the most famous wine tasting in history, will take place simultaneously in the heart of California's premier wine country and in Britain oldest wine and spirits merchant.
Panelists swirling, sniffing, sipping, and spitting at Copia center for food and wine in Napa Valley will include Christian Vanneque, who was a judge at the historic tasting on May 24, 1976.
"Some of the Brits and the French are expecting the older French wines to beat the pants off the California cabernets," Copia's wine master Peter Marks said, citing a "classic paradigm" that French wines age better.
....A "pre-eminent European contingent" headed by renowned British wine writer Steven Spurrier will rate the resurrected vintages at the same time at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London.
....Napa Valley wineries putting their championship status on the line included Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, which finished first in 1976 with its 1973 cabernet.
Bordeaux wines being uncorked for the rematch included 1970 vintages from Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Montrose and Chateau Haut-Brion, and a 1971 Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases.
In a bow to diplomacy, and to assuage fears of embarrassment by vintners on both sides, only the original red wines will compete head-to-head.
Formidable French vintners reportedly refused to be contenders unless Bordeaux was compared to Bordeaux and California wine to California wine, without the twain meeting.
Marks downplayed the reluctance of wineries to duke it out on tasters' tongues, and portrayed the anniversary tasting as a celebration instead of a grudge match.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 24, 2006 (AFP) - French wines dethroned by California vintages in a landmark blind taste test in Paris 30 years ago will get a chance to reclaim their crown on Wednesday.
A rematch of "Judgment of Paris," billed as the most famous wine tasting in history, will take place simultaneously in the heart of California's premier wine country and in Britain oldest wine and spirits merchant.
Panelists swirling, sniffing, sipping, and spitting at Copia center for food and wine in Napa Valley will include Christian Vanneque, who was a judge at the historic tasting on May 24, 1976.
"Some of the Brits and the French are expecting the older French wines to beat the pants off the California cabernets," Copia's wine master Peter Marks said, citing a "classic paradigm" that French wines age better.
....A "pre-eminent European contingent" headed by renowned British wine writer Steven Spurrier will rate the resurrected vintages at the same time at Berry Brothers and Rudd in London.
....Napa Valley wineries putting their championship status on the line included Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, which finished first in 1976 with its 1973 cabernet.
Bordeaux wines being uncorked for the rematch included 1970 vintages from Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Montrose and Chateau Haut-Brion, and a 1971 Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases.
In a bow to diplomacy, and to assuage fears of embarrassment by vintners on both sides, only the original red wines will compete head-to-head.
Formidable French vintners reportedly refused to be contenders unless Bordeaux was compared to Bordeaux and California wine to California wine, without the twain meeting.
Marks downplayed the reluctance of wineries to duke it out on tasters' tongues, and portrayed the anniversary tasting as a celebration instead of a grudge match.
More News to France
At $7.00 per gallon, gasoline is expensive:
NOTICES on petrol pumps in France could soon be advising drivers to conserve fuel and think of the environment.
Finance Minister Thierry Breton said it would make people more aware that "energy is a rare commodity that must be preserved”.
Other measures he would like to see are learner drivers being taught how to drive more economically, notices on receipts advising on fuel use and the creation of a website that would allow people to compare prices between individual stations.
NOTICES on petrol pumps in France could soon be advising drivers to conserve fuel and think of the environment.
Finance Minister Thierry Breton said it would make people more aware that "energy is a rare commodity that must be preserved”.
Other measures he would like to see are learner drivers being taught how to drive more economically, notices on receipts advising on fuel use and the creation of a website that would allow people to compare prices between individual stations.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Tick, Tick, Tick
The meek shall inherit...something:
BERLIN - The number of Islamist extremists based in Germany increased slightly last year but the country faces far lower threat of terrorist attacks than states which took part in the Iraq war, an official report said Monday.
There were 32,100 Islamists living in Germany last year - an increase of about 300 from 2004, said the report by Germany's domestic security agency, the Verfassungsschutz.
Germany has a Muslim minority of about 3 million out of a total population of 82 million, said the report.
The biggest Islamist group is Milli Gorus, a Turkish movement with 26,500 members.
Other groups are Hamas with about 300 members, Hezbollah with 900 and the Muslim
Brotherhood with 1,300.
...."Even though the degree to which Germany is threatened is clearly lower than for those states which took part in the Iraq war, it must be noted that Germany is still seen ... as a helper of the US and Israel," said the report which underlined the presence of German troops in Afghanistan as boosting this image.
....The police and military in Germany are gearing up for major security operation during the football World Cup which opens June 9 in Munich and ends July 9 in Berlin.
No kidding.
BERLIN - The number of Islamist extremists based in Germany increased slightly last year but the country faces far lower threat of terrorist attacks than states which took part in the Iraq war, an official report said Monday.
There were 32,100 Islamists living in Germany last year - an increase of about 300 from 2004, said the report by Germany's domestic security agency, the Verfassungsschutz.
Germany has a Muslim minority of about 3 million out of a total population of 82 million, said the report.
The biggest Islamist group is Milli Gorus, a Turkish movement with 26,500 members.
Other groups are Hamas with about 300 members, Hezbollah with 900 and the Muslim
Brotherhood with 1,300.
...."Even though the degree to which Germany is threatened is clearly lower than for those states which took part in the Iraq war, it must be noted that Germany is still seen ... as a helper of the US and Israel," said the report which underlined the presence of German troops in Afghanistan as boosting this image.
....The police and military in Germany are gearing up for major security operation during the football World Cup which opens June 9 in Munich and ends July 9 in Berlin.
No kidding.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The Big Three Oh Approaches
The anniversary of the catastrophic day:
LONDON, May 21, 2006 (AFP) - The year was 1976, and in Paris an English vintner, Steven Spurrier, organised an historic tasting that, in the world's wine circles, would be talked about forever after.
Nicknamed the "Judgment of Paris", it pitted France's top Bordeaux and Burgundies against American Cabernets and Chardonnays which, while well-regarded, were virtually unknown outside California.
The California wines won -- and France has never gotten over it.
....One judge, Odette Kahn, editor of "La Revue de Vin de France", demanded her scores back. Several cried foul. Others were scorned by wine industry colleagues -- and at least one may have been sacked from his sommelier job -- for shaming their country.
.... "The reaction of the French was one of complete disbelief and denial," Spurrier said.
.... "To this day, some of the judges -- like Aubert de Villaine (co-owner of the iconic Burgundy estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) -- refuse to discuss it." Wine columnists, shops and societies around the world continue to stage reincarnations of the original, as well as variations on the Old World versus New World theme to the ongoing consternation of the French.
Indeed, a high-profile tasting in Berlin in 2004 saw the likes of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Margaux bested by two wines from Chile's Errazuriz wineries.
The only journalist--Time's George Taber--who accepted the invitation to attend, published The Judgment of Paris last year which tells the story of how a Stag's Leap cabernet and a Chateau Montelena chardonnay stunned the wine world 30 years ago.
LONDON, May 21, 2006 (AFP) - The year was 1976, and in Paris an English vintner, Steven Spurrier, organised an historic tasting that, in the world's wine circles, would be talked about forever after.
Nicknamed the "Judgment of Paris", it pitted France's top Bordeaux and Burgundies against American Cabernets and Chardonnays which, while well-regarded, were virtually unknown outside California.
The California wines won -- and France has never gotten over it.
....One judge, Odette Kahn, editor of "La Revue de Vin de France", demanded her scores back. Several cried foul. Others were scorned by wine industry colleagues -- and at least one may have been sacked from his sommelier job -- for shaming their country.
.... "The reaction of the French was one of complete disbelief and denial," Spurrier said.
.... "To this day, some of the judges -- like Aubert de Villaine (co-owner of the iconic Burgundy estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) -- refuse to discuss it." Wine columnists, shops and societies around the world continue to stage reincarnations of the original, as well as variations on the Old World versus New World theme to the ongoing consternation of the French.
Indeed, a high-profile tasting in Berlin in 2004 saw the likes of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Margaux bested by two wines from Chile's Errazuriz wineries.
The only journalist--Time's George Taber--who accepted the invitation to attend, published The Judgment of Paris last year which tells the story of how a Stag's Leap cabernet and a Chateau Montelena chardonnay stunned the wine world 30 years ago.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Tie a Yellow Ribbon
With reports that Ahmadinejad's Iran is about to require Jews to wear a yellow ribbon around their arm and Christians a red one, it's worth remembering that this idea is hundreds of years old:
The battle of Nehavend in 642 A.D. and the defeat of the Sassanid by Arab-Muslims ended the independence of Persia after nearly 12 centuries and it became a part of the Arab-Islamic entity. The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs of Damascus and Baghdad controlled Persia. Arabic words infiltrated the Persian language, and Islam replaced Zorastrianism as the state religion.
These changes had a profound impact on the many religious minorities within Persia. Through a covenant of Omar (a Sunni Muslim leader), non-Muslims were deprived of social and political equality, and became, in effect, second-class citizens. Jews were made to wear a yellow ribbon on their arms and Christians a blue ribbon to distinguish them from Muslims.
Professor Amnon Netzer of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem told RFE/RL that the yellow patch as a distinctive mark for Iranian Jews reappeared a number of times through Iranian history, most recently at the beginning of the 20th century.
It was only with the coming of the Pahlavi dynasty that Jews were treated as normal citizens in Iran. So, can we thank Jimmy Carter for this?
The battle of Nehavend in 642 A.D. and the defeat of the Sassanid by Arab-Muslims ended the independence of Persia after nearly 12 centuries and it became a part of the Arab-Islamic entity. The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs of Damascus and Baghdad controlled Persia. Arabic words infiltrated the Persian language, and Islam replaced Zorastrianism as the state religion.
These changes had a profound impact on the many religious minorities within Persia. Through a covenant of Omar (a Sunni Muslim leader), non-Muslims were deprived of social and political equality, and became, in effect, second-class citizens. Jews were made to wear a yellow ribbon on their arms and Christians a blue ribbon to distinguish them from Muslims.
Professor Amnon Netzer of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem told RFE/RL that the yellow patch as a distinctive mark for Iranian Jews reappeared a number of times through Iranian history, most recently at the beginning of the 20th century.
It was only with the coming of the Pahlavi dynasty that Jews were treated as normal citizens in Iran. So, can we thank Jimmy Carter for this?
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
That Urdu, You Do So Well
Goes over like a ton of lutefisk in Norway:
A proposal to translate Norway's national anthem into a language used by many of the country's immigrants is stirring controversy. Opponents claim those who can't understand the Norwegian lyrics should just hum along instead.
....The editor of a newspaper for minorities in Norway, Utrop, floated the anthem translation proposal in the national newspaper Vårt Land this week. The idea is that an Urdu version of the anthem would allow many immigrants from Pakistan, for example, to more easily express their love for Norway.
....Norway's most conservative party, the Progress Party, was quick to slam the proposal.
"This is integration in reverse," claimed Per-Willy Amundsen, the Progress Party spokesman on issues dealing with immigration.
The "best gift" immigrants can give to "their new homeland," argued Amundsen, is to learn Norwegian. He has no sympathy for immigrants who have problems singing the national anthem in Norwegian.
"It just takes practice to learn it," he claimed. "Those who are new to the country can hum along while we others sing."
A proposal to translate Norway's national anthem into a language used by many of the country's immigrants is stirring controversy. Opponents claim those who can't understand the Norwegian lyrics should just hum along instead.
....The editor of a newspaper for minorities in Norway, Utrop, floated the anthem translation proposal in the national newspaper Vårt Land this week. The idea is that an Urdu version of the anthem would allow many immigrants from Pakistan, for example, to more easily express their love for Norway.
....Norway's most conservative party, the Progress Party, was quick to slam the proposal.
"This is integration in reverse," claimed Per-Willy Amundsen, the Progress Party spokesman on issues dealing with immigration.
The "best gift" immigrants can give to "their new homeland," argued Amundsen, is to learn Norwegian. He has no sympathy for immigrants who have problems singing the national anthem in Norwegian.
"It just takes practice to learn it," he claimed. "Those who are new to the country can hum along while we others sing."
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Habla Derecha Cerca Immigracion
Tech Central Station nails the illegal immigration problem with two articles today. First, the reason Mexico is poor (and exporting its valuable natural resource, labor) is that Mexico is struggling with badly outdated political-economic institutions:
Spanish colonists arrived first in the Americas, installing their seigneurial (feudal) system in lands claimed for king and church. The state gained title to all mineral rights, upper classes acquired vast land holdings, and often corrupt bureaucrats regulated markets and businesses. The vast majority of families worked the land or did menial labor, with few opportunities to own property, become educated or improve their social status.
By the time the English began establishing colonies, their system of laws, democratic government, property rights, free enterprise and individual rights had evolved far beyond feudal concepts. Even poor entrepreneurs could and did acquire property, patent inventions, mine gold and silver, and build businesses, factories and industries. When wars and treaties added Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California to the expanding nation, those new states exchanged Spanish feudalism for the dynamic American system.
But even today in Mexico, key industries remain nationalized, and wealth is concentrated in the hands of elites. Prevalent ideologies view wealth as "a zero-sum game," in which what one person acquires can come only by taking money or property from someone else. These doctrines help foment class conflict, demand "more equitable" distribution of wealth, and condemn globalization and foreign investment, rather than seeing them as agents of improved opportunity, health and environmental quality.
....Low-skill wages today are less than 15 percent of what Mexican workers can earn in the US, and half of its 106 million people still live in poverty. Mexico is not poor because it lacks natural resources or bright, industrious citizens. It is blessed with both in abundance. Mexico is poor because it retains an antiquated legal and economic system.
If the southwestern United States had remained part of Mexico, this region would have been governed under Mexican laws -- and would probably be as impoverished and bereft of opportunity as Mexico is today.
All right, now we know why they flee Mexico. Here's what we can't do about it:
Around 1991, the State of Georgia passed a law that made it illegal to have window tint on your vehicle if the tint was too dark -- light tint was fine and legal, but the black tint was illegal. Unfortunately, many of the people who wish to have their cars tinted preferred to have the dark tint on them. Thus, window tinting companies were placed in a bind: They could either obey the new Georgia law and lose customers, or disobey the law and keep the customers who wanted the illegal tint.
Now had a state inspector been stationed at every one of the many window tinting shops in the state of Georgia, and if he personally examined every piece of tint put on every window, there is no question that the Georgia window-tinting law would have been a smashing success. But because the enforcement of the law was on a fairly hit-or-miss basis, and since it was aimed primarily at the drivers of the illegally tinted vehicles, the economic effect of the law on the window-tinting businesses themselves was utterly perverse. Those companies that obeyed the law to the letter were economically penalized by their very respect for the law, while those companies that flouted the law were economically rewarded by their lack of respect for the law.
....By the same logic, if all the customers of the hundreds of businesses who currently employed illegal immigrants were prepared to spend more money for the same service provided by American labor, then, once again, the current laws could be enforced -- or, more precisely, they would not need to be enforced, because the people themselves would be spontaneously obeying them.
....Herein lies the drawback to laws that are passed by legislative bodies solely to prove to their constituents that they, the legislators, are really doing something. "See," the legislators can tell the voters back home, "we are really cracking down on illegal immigrants by making tougher laws." But what is the point of tougher laws if these laws only penalize, economically, the few who obey them, while rewarding the many who do not?
....At least in the law against illegal tint, it was the final customer who was penalized by fines; but in the law against hiring illegal immigrants, the final customer is in no way punished if he decides to go with a landscape firm that uses illegal aliens, or decides to have his roof replaced by a company that employs them. In most cases, all the final customer will care about is the cost of the service, and if it is cheaper to go with a company that hired illegals, that is what he will do. And how do you solve this problem? By fining customers who eat at restaurants that employ illegal immigrants, or who have their bushes pruned by them?
As long as the final customers behave as economic actors, preferring to pay less than more for the same quality of service or product, there will be a market for those laborers who are willing to work for less, provided that they work as hard and as well as those who demand a higher wage. Pass all the laws you want; make as many examples as you please -- neither of these policies can hope to do more than to drive up the cost of those businesses that obey the law, while rewarding those that are willing to take the risk of disobeying it. In short, the end result will not be more Americans working at higher wages, but a flight of illegal immigrants from larger and more stable companies to smaller and less stable ones -- or, to put this another way, a flight from higher to lower wages.
Should this surprise us? Considering the history of legislative attempts to regulate trade and commerce, no it should not. There are some things that law can do; but it can never be able to make people act against their economic self-interest. And every time that the law has been used for this purpose, not only does it fail -- it does much worse, it backfires.
Spanish colonists arrived first in the Americas, installing their seigneurial (feudal) system in lands claimed for king and church. The state gained title to all mineral rights, upper classes acquired vast land holdings, and often corrupt bureaucrats regulated markets and businesses. The vast majority of families worked the land or did menial labor, with few opportunities to own property, become educated or improve their social status.
By the time the English began establishing colonies, their system of laws, democratic government, property rights, free enterprise and individual rights had evolved far beyond feudal concepts. Even poor entrepreneurs could and did acquire property, patent inventions, mine gold and silver, and build businesses, factories and industries. When wars and treaties added Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California to the expanding nation, those new states exchanged Spanish feudalism for the dynamic American system.
But even today in Mexico, key industries remain nationalized, and wealth is concentrated in the hands of elites. Prevalent ideologies view wealth as "a zero-sum game," in which what one person acquires can come only by taking money or property from someone else. These doctrines help foment class conflict, demand "more equitable" distribution of wealth, and condemn globalization and foreign investment, rather than seeing them as agents of improved opportunity, health and environmental quality.
....Low-skill wages today are less than 15 percent of what Mexican workers can earn in the US, and half of its 106 million people still live in poverty. Mexico is not poor because it lacks natural resources or bright, industrious citizens. It is blessed with both in abundance. Mexico is poor because it retains an antiquated legal and economic system.
If the southwestern United States had remained part of Mexico, this region would have been governed under Mexican laws -- and would probably be as impoverished and bereft of opportunity as Mexico is today.
All right, now we know why they flee Mexico. Here's what we can't do about it:
Around 1991, the State of Georgia passed a law that made it illegal to have window tint on your vehicle if the tint was too dark -- light tint was fine and legal, but the black tint was illegal. Unfortunately, many of the people who wish to have their cars tinted preferred to have the dark tint on them. Thus, window tinting companies were placed in a bind: They could either obey the new Georgia law and lose customers, or disobey the law and keep the customers who wanted the illegal tint.
Now had a state inspector been stationed at every one of the many window tinting shops in the state of Georgia, and if he personally examined every piece of tint put on every window, there is no question that the Georgia window-tinting law would have been a smashing success. But because the enforcement of the law was on a fairly hit-or-miss basis, and since it was aimed primarily at the drivers of the illegally tinted vehicles, the economic effect of the law on the window-tinting businesses themselves was utterly perverse. Those companies that obeyed the law to the letter were economically penalized by their very respect for the law, while those companies that flouted the law were economically rewarded by their lack of respect for the law.
....By the same logic, if all the customers of the hundreds of businesses who currently employed illegal immigrants were prepared to spend more money for the same service provided by American labor, then, once again, the current laws could be enforced -- or, more precisely, they would not need to be enforced, because the people themselves would be spontaneously obeying them.
....Herein lies the drawback to laws that are passed by legislative bodies solely to prove to their constituents that they, the legislators, are really doing something. "See," the legislators can tell the voters back home, "we are really cracking down on illegal immigrants by making tougher laws." But what is the point of tougher laws if these laws only penalize, economically, the few who obey them, while rewarding the many who do not?
....At least in the law against illegal tint, it was the final customer who was penalized by fines; but in the law against hiring illegal immigrants, the final customer is in no way punished if he decides to go with a landscape firm that uses illegal aliens, or decides to have his roof replaced by a company that employs them. In most cases, all the final customer will care about is the cost of the service, and if it is cheaper to go with a company that hired illegals, that is what he will do. And how do you solve this problem? By fining customers who eat at restaurants that employ illegal immigrants, or who have their bushes pruned by them?
As long as the final customers behave as economic actors, preferring to pay less than more for the same quality of service or product, there will be a market for those laborers who are willing to work for less, provided that they work as hard and as well as those who demand a higher wage. Pass all the laws you want; make as many examples as you please -- neither of these policies can hope to do more than to drive up the cost of those businesses that obey the law, while rewarding those that are willing to take the risk of disobeying it. In short, the end result will not be more Americans working at higher wages, but a flight of illegal immigrants from larger and more stable companies to smaller and less stable ones -- or, to put this another way, a flight from higher to lower wages.
Should this surprise us? Considering the history of legislative attempts to regulate trade and commerce, no it should not. There are some things that law can do; but it can never be able to make people act against their economic self-interest. And every time that the law has been used for this purpose, not only does it fail -- it does much worse, it backfires.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Abaya Couture
Next, icecubes to Eskimoes?
RIYADH, May 15, 2006 (AFP) - France's famed international fashion school ESMOD is teaming up with an institute in Riyadh in its first foray in the conservative Gulf region, a legal adviser to the venture said Monday.
Undaunted by the fact that Saudi women have to cover from head to toe in public, ESMOD executives will on Tuesday sign a contract for an "associated school" with the French Institute of Fashion Design in Riyadh, a first step toward a franchise in the Saudi capital, Jochen Hundt told AFP.
While Saudi women must wear black abayas over their clothes in public in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, Hundt said: "Riyadh, which was very conservative, is opening up and has a large segment of rich people ready to spend on fashion."
The Middle East accounts for 40 percent of the clientele of haute couture, with Saudi Arabia the number one market, according to the organizer of a series of fashion shows held in the neighboring United Arab Emirates last week.
RIYADH, May 15, 2006 (AFP) - France's famed international fashion school ESMOD is teaming up with an institute in Riyadh in its first foray in the conservative Gulf region, a legal adviser to the venture said Monday.
Undaunted by the fact that Saudi women have to cover from head to toe in public, ESMOD executives will on Tuesday sign a contract for an "associated school" with the French Institute of Fashion Design in Riyadh, a first step toward a franchise in the Saudi capital, Jochen Hundt told AFP.
While Saudi women must wear black abayas over their clothes in public in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, Hundt said: "Riyadh, which was very conservative, is opening up and has a large segment of rich people ready to spend on fashion."
The Middle East accounts for 40 percent of the clientele of haute couture, with Saudi Arabia the number one market, according to the organizer of a series of fashion shows held in the neighboring United Arab Emirates last week.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
A kiss on the hand may be...
or, maybe not, quite continental:
"So, do you kiss once, twice, three or four times?
"When should I shake hands?"
"Which rules apply when it comes to greeting men or women? Superiors or subordinates? Colleagues or clients?"
The bad news is that their own French colleagues don't agree on a clear set of dos and definitely don'ts. So much depends on context that an easy guide is impossible.
The good news is that their own French colleagues don't agree on a clear set of rule....
...here are some guidelines (not rules!) for getting off to a good start.
First, don't be surprised if a physical greeting of some kind, either la bise or a handshake, is routine in your French workplaces, not just on first introduction but every morning upon arrival at work, even though this ritual may take up several minutes. ....
Look for the cues: slight leaning means that a kiss might follow. Let the French person lead the movement: don't force the extra kiss!
Shoulder movement indicates that a handshake will probably follow. Accept it with a smile. Do not crush the fingers in a Texan grip. Do not shake wildly. Look the person in the eyes as you say Bonjour.
Two kisses are the norm in Paris in most social contexts or with colleagues with whom you are friendly.
Three kisses are not as common. French from the West and French from the East both like to claim exclusivity on the three-kiss variant, but just be aware that this more common outside of Paris.
Four kisses are for teenagers and family members as well as in some upper-crust areas of Paris. Family members usually kiss twice in the morning to say hello and twice in the evening to say good-bye (so as to arrive at a four-kiss quota per day).
A single kiss in France is considered more intimate and reserved for your spouse or lover.
Five kisses means you're probably in trouble!
"So, do you kiss once, twice, three or four times?
"When should I shake hands?"
"Which rules apply when it comes to greeting men or women? Superiors or subordinates? Colleagues or clients?"
The bad news is that their own French colleagues don't agree on a clear set of dos and definitely don'ts. So much depends on context that an easy guide is impossible.
The good news is that their own French colleagues don't agree on a clear set of rule....
...here are some guidelines (not rules!) for getting off to a good start.
First, don't be surprised if a physical greeting of some kind, either la bise or a handshake, is routine in your French workplaces, not just on first introduction but every morning upon arrival at work, even though this ritual may take up several minutes. ....
Look for the cues: slight leaning means that a kiss might follow. Let the French person lead the movement: don't force the extra kiss!
Shoulder movement indicates that a handshake will probably follow. Accept it with a smile. Do not crush the fingers in a Texan grip. Do not shake wildly. Look the person in the eyes as you say Bonjour.
Two kisses are the norm in Paris in most social contexts or with colleagues with whom you are friendly.
Three kisses are not as common. French from the West and French from the East both like to claim exclusivity on the three-kiss variant, but just be aware that this more common outside of Paris.
Four kisses are for teenagers and family members as well as in some upper-crust areas of Paris. Family members usually kiss twice in the morning to say hello and twice in the evening to say good-bye (so as to arrive at a four-kiss quota per day).
A single kiss in France is considered more intimate and reserved for your spouse or lover.
Five kisses means you're probably in trouble!
The Good Ol' Days Are Back
In Murder City:
Murder is making a comeback in New Orleans.
The city had 30 murders this year through April. That is less than half of the 81 recorded during the first four months of 2005. But New Orleans' population these days is less than half of what it was before Katrina.
Also, while there were 17 murders in January through March of this year, there were 13 in April alone. That is the most for any month since the Aug. 29 storm, though still well below the monthly average of 22 in 2003 and 2004.
And May has gotten off to a violent start with three slayings, including a shooting that followed an argument in a Bourbon Street bar early Tuesday.
....Law-enforcement officers acknowledge rising numbers of murders and shootings, and attribute them largely to turf wars among criminals returning to the city.
"Since April began, we've had the return of individuals who have a legacy of violent crimes," said Jim Bernazzani, the FBI agent in charge of New Orleans. "Prior to storm they were residing in areas that are now uninhabitable. So they are returning to the 20 percent of the city that did not flood and they are running into violent criminals whose turf it is."
The post-Katrina murder are haunting echoes of pre-Katrina New Orleans.
...."I don't think things have changed at all," said Dr. Micelle Haydel, an emergency-room doctor at Charity Hospital, where most trauma victims in the city are taken. "We're still getting the shooting and stabbing victims. It's still happening, and it will get worse as people return."
In neighboring Jefferson Parish, the murder rate is way up. The population has fallen from about 450,000 before Katrina to around 370,000, according to the parish president's office. But there were 22 murders though April, compared with 28 during all of last year.
Murder is making a comeback in New Orleans.
The city had 30 murders this year through April. That is less than half of the 81 recorded during the first four months of 2005. But New Orleans' population these days is less than half of what it was before Katrina.
Also, while there were 17 murders in January through March of this year, there were 13 in April alone. That is the most for any month since the Aug. 29 storm, though still well below the monthly average of 22 in 2003 and 2004.
And May has gotten off to a violent start with three slayings, including a shooting that followed an argument in a Bourbon Street bar early Tuesday.
....Law-enforcement officers acknowledge rising numbers of murders and shootings, and attribute them largely to turf wars among criminals returning to the city.
"Since April began, we've had the return of individuals who have a legacy of violent crimes," said Jim Bernazzani, the FBI agent in charge of New Orleans. "Prior to storm they were residing in areas that are now uninhabitable. So they are returning to the 20 percent of the city that did not flood and they are running into violent criminals whose turf it is."
The post-Katrina murder are haunting echoes of pre-Katrina New Orleans.
...."I don't think things have changed at all," said Dr. Micelle Haydel, an emergency-room doctor at Charity Hospital, where most trauma victims in the city are taken. "We're still getting the shooting and stabbing victims. It's still happening, and it will get worse as people return."
In neighboring Jefferson Parish, the murder rate is way up. The population has fallen from about 450,000 before Katrina to around 370,000, according to the parish president's office. But there were 22 murders though April, compared with 28 during all of last year.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Let em eat cake
Standing on the shoulders of Harry Lyme's famous maxim:
ln ltaly, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. But they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. ln Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce ? The cuckoo clock.
Today's Euro-intellects declare:
The European Union has come up with a new way of selling itself to voters - cake.
To celebrate Europe Day - 9 May is the day a European union was first proposed - the EU's Austrian presidency took over a cafe in each capital to illustrate the continent's culinary richness.
The slogan: "Sweet Europe, let yourself be seduced..."
Europe has been searching for years for something to inspire a new generation of citizens - a generation unimpressed by 60 years of peace and the ending of the continents' Cold War divisions.
....The new Cafe d'Europe initiative substituted writers for music, debates for concerts and cake for chocolate.
The acceding countries, Bulgaria and Romania, were included, so the full menu ran to 27 cakes and pastries.
....Some of the contributions were predictable, from France madeleines, from Cyprus baklava, from Denmark Danish pastry.
Lithuania's bakers were conjuring up something resembling a hedgehog, called Sakotis, while Malta's were crafting a deep-fried date sandwich made from a dough containing red wine,
....At the London event, in Waterstone's bookshop cafe, one speaker lamented the fact that the fall of communism and the pressures of globalisation had driven some Polish national pastries - Krakowskie kremowki (millefeuilles) and W-Zetki (a cousin of tiramisu) - to the edge of extinction.
"Tiramisu is now easier to get in Warsaw than W-Zetki," she said. "I wonder why there is no process of sharing the rich diversity on the table with the rest of Europe?"
ln ltaly, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. But they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. ln Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce ? The cuckoo clock.
Today's Euro-intellects declare:
The European Union has come up with a new way of selling itself to voters - cake.
To celebrate Europe Day - 9 May is the day a European union was first proposed - the EU's Austrian presidency took over a cafe in each capital to illustrate the continent's culinary richness.
The slogan: "Sweet Europe, let yourself be seduced..."
Europe has been searching for years for something to inspire a new generation of citizens - a generation unimpressed by 60 years of peace and the ending of the continents' Cold War divisions.
....The new Cafe d'Europe initiative substituted writers for music, debates for concerts and cake for chocolate.
The acceding countries, Bulgaria and Romania, were included, so the full menu ran to 27 cakes and pastries.
....Some of the contributions were predictable, from France madeleines, from Cyprus baklava, from Denmark Danish pastry.
Lithuania's bakers were conjuring up something resembling a hedgehog, called Sakotis, while Malta's were crafting a deep-fried date sandwich made from a dough containing red wine,
....At the London event, in Waterstone's bookshop cafe, one speaker lamented the fact that the fall of communism and the pressures of globalisation had driven some Polish national pastries - Krakowskie kremowki (millefeuilles) and W-Zetki (a cousin of tiramisu) - to the edge of extinction.
"Tiramisu is now easier to get in Warsaw than W-Zetki," she said. "I wonder why there is no process of sharing the rich diversity on the table with the rest of Europe?"
Sunday, May 07, 2006
White Kids' Burden
The Brits sound the alarum over racist rugrats:
Toddlers may already be racists, nurseries told
By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent
They may still be in nappies and playing with sand and building blocks but many toddlers are already racists, nurseries have been warned.
To stop prejudice from developing while children are still three years old, staff need to ensure that different racial groups "play together right from day one", according to Herman Ouseley, the former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.
Nursery staff should "discourage separate play" and "help children to unlearn any racist attitudes and behaviour they may have already learnt", said Lord Ouseley.
"It is important to consider whether patterns of play are consistently based on racial or cultural grounds," he writes in the latest issue of the journal Race Equality Teaching.
"If, for example, Muslim children nearly always play together and seldom play with other children, the question needs to be asked, 'Is there a reason for it that may relate to culture? Or apprehension? Or prejudice?'," said Lord Ouseley, the author of an influential report on the 2001 Bradford riots.
Toddlers may already be racists, nurseries told
By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent
They may still be in nappies and playing with sand and building blocks but many toddlers are already racists, nurseries have been warned.
To stop prejudice from developing while children are still three years old, staff need to ensure that different racial groups "play together right from day one", according to Herman Ouseley, the former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.
Nursery staff should "discourage separate play" and "help children to unlearn any racist attitudes and behaviour they may have already learnt", said Lord Ouseley.
"It is important to consider whether patterns of play are consistently based on racial or cultural grounds," he writes in the latest issue of the journal Race Equality Teaching.
"If, for example, Muslim children nearly always play together and seldom play with other children, the question needs to be asked, 'Is there a reason for it that may relate to culture? Or apprehension? Or prejudice?'," said Lord Ouseley, the author of an influential report on the 2001 Bradford riots.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Greenie Meanies to the Poor; 'Drop Dead'?
Environmentalists got their way and the ship scrappers lost a chance to eke out a living:
ALANG, India.... Only a few years ago, Alang was the world's biggest ship-breaking yard, a place where aging cruise liners, fishing trawlers and toxic warships came to die and be torn apart, their parts and cargo sold for profit. Now, largely because of pressure from environmental groups, the town itself is dying.
The decision in February to turn away the Clemenceau, an asbestos-lined, decommissioned French aircraft carrier, has only brought more attention to the shipyard and caused a further drop in business, both for the companies that dismantle the ships and for ship profiteers...who sell what once was on board.
....In Alang, for example, workers still travel from across India for the chance to earn as much as $4.50 a day, breaking apart ships for 12 hours at a stretch. It's a good wage in India. It's also the only choice for many workers.
"It's for our survival," said Gama Yadav, who makes about $2.75 a day as a "cutter," taking apart steel hulls with a blowtorch. "What can we do? Back home, there's no work. There's no question of me being happy or sad. It's a question of me being able to eat."
In Alang, the numbers tell the story of a dying industry. In the fiscal year ended in June 1999 - the height of the ship-breaking business - 361 vessels came to Alang to be dismantled by 40,000 workers.
In the year ended in June 2005, 196 ships arrived.
And in the past four months, since the Clemenceau controversy heated up, only 33 ships have docked in Alang. About 3,500 people now work at the yard.
ALANG, India.... Only a few years ago, Alang was the world's biggest ship-breaking yard, a place where aging cruise liners, fishing trawlers and toxic warships came to die and be torn apart, their parts and cargo sold for profit. Now, largely because of pressure from environmental groups, the town itself is dying.
The decision in February to turn away the Clemenceau, an asbestos-lined, decommissioned French aircraft carrier, has only brought more attention to the shipyard and caused a further drop in business, both for the companies that dismantle the ships and for ship profiteers...who sell what once was on board.
....In Alang, for example, workers still travel from across India for the chance to earn as much as $4.50 a day, breaking apart ships for 12 hours at a stretch. It's a good wage in India. It's also the only choice for many workers.
"It's for our survival," said Gama Yadav, who makes about $2.75 a day as a "cutter," taking apart steel hulls with a blowtorch. "What can we do? Back home, there's no work. There's no question of me being happy or sad. It's a question of me being able to eat."
In Alang, the numbers tell the story of a dying industry. In the fiscal year ended in June 1999 - the height of the ship-breaking business - 361 vessels came to Alang to be dismantled by 40,000 workers.
In the year ended in June 2005, 196 ships arrived.
And in the past four months, since the Clemenceau controversy heated up, only 33 ships have docked in Alang. About 3,500 people now work at the yard.
The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight
Al Qaeda, the Comedy:
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is shown wearing American tennis shoes and unable to operate his automatic rifle in video released Thursday by the U.S. military as part of a propaganda war aimed at undercutting the image of the terror leader.
The U.S. command showed the footage to reporters at a time when it is stepping up operations against al-Qaida in Iraq and making overtures to other Sunni groups. The Americans hope to isolate religious extremists from insurgents they believe are more likely to cut a deal to end the war.
The clips were part of a longer video that U.S. troops seized in a raid last month. Al-Qaida in Iraq militants posted an edited version of the same video on the Internet April 25 _ but without the embarrassing segments.
....the previously unseen footage showed a smiling al-Qaida leader first firing single shots from a U.S.-made M-249 light machine gun. A frown creeps across al-Zarqawi's face as the weapon appears to jam. He looks at the rifle, confused, then summons another fighter.
....By contrast, the edited version which the militants posted on the Web showed what happened only after the fighter fixed the weapon _ a fierce-looking al-Zarqawi confidently blasting away with bursts of automatic gunfire.
His fellow fighters and associates appear similarly inept in the newly released footage. One reaches out to grab a just-fired weapon by the barrel, apparently unaware that it would burn his hand. The camera quickly pans to the ground and then away.
"His close associates around him ... do things like grab the hot barrel of the machine gun and burn themselves," Lynch said. "Makes you wonder" about their military skills.
Another clip showed the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi _ who has derided everything Western _ dressed in a black uniform but wearing New Balance tennis shoes as he walked to a white pickup.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is shown wearing American tennis shoes and unable to operate his automatic rifle in video released Thursday by the U.S. military as part of a propaganda war aimed at undercutting the image of the terror leader.
The U.S. command showed the footage to reporters at a time when it is stepping up operations against al-Qaida in Iraq and making overtures to other Sunni groups. The Americans hope to isolate religious extremists from insurgents they believe are more likely to cut a deal to end the war.
The clips were part of a longer video that U.S. troops seized in a raid last month. Al-Qaida in Iraq militants posted an edited version of the same video on the Internet April 25 _ but without the embarrassing segments.
....the previously unseen footage showed a smiling al-Qaida leader first firing single shots from a U.S.-made M-249 light machine gun. A frown creeps across al-Zarqawi's face as the weapon appears to jam. He looks at the rifle, confused, then summons another fighter.
....By contrast, the edited version which the militants posted on the Web showed what happened only after the fighter fixed the weapon _ a fierce-looking al-Zarqawi confidently blasting away with bursts of automatic gunfire.
His fellow fighters and associates appear similarly inept in the newly released footage. One reaches out to grab a just-fired weapon by the barrel, apparently unaware that it would burn his hand. The camera quickly pans to the ground and then away.
"His close associates around him ... do things like grab the hot barrel of the machine gun and burn themselves," Lynch said. "Makes you wonder" about their military skills.
Another clip showed the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi _ who has derided everything Western _ dressed in a black uniform but wearing New Balance tennis shoes as he walked to a white pickup.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
The first thing we do...
...is make sure all the lawyers get rich:
A lawsuit filed by shareholders over Boeing's procurement scandals has yielded a proposed payment of nearly $12 million for their lawyers, but little else.
The suit against Boeing, its top officers and board of directors alleged the individuals had been reckless and negligent in overseeing company operations, leading to scandals such as the use of stolen Lockheed Martin documents in a bid for a 1998 Air Force rocket-launch contract, and the illegal offer of a job in 2002 to an Air Force procurement officer who oversaw a refueling-tanker contract.
But the proposed settlement may raise some eyebrows. It would require Boeing to spend an extra $29 million over five years to enhance director and management oversight of its ethics and compliance procedures.
Such changes were already under way, thanks to Boeing's internal investigation, and to new federal laws, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, that affected corporate governance.
Apart from that, the settlement's only other result would be to pay up to $11.9 million to the national law firms that litigated the case, including Labaton, Sucharow & Rudoff; Lasky & Rifkind; and Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman.
"It's nice business for the attorneys," said John Coffee, professor of corporate law and director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School.
A lawsuit filed by shareholders over Boeing's procurement scandals has yielded a proposed payment of nearly $12 million for their lawyers, but little else.
The suit against Boeing, its top officers and board of directors alleged the individuals had been reckless and negligent in overseeing company operations, leading to scandals such as the use of stolen Lockheed Martin documents in a bid for a 1998 Air Force rocket-launch contract, and the illegal offer of a job in 2002 to an Air Force procurement officer who oversaw a refueling-tanker contract.
But the proposed settlement may raise some eyebrows. It would require Boeing to spend an extra $29 million over five years to enhance director and management oversight of its ethics and compliance procedures.
Such changes were already under way, thanks to Boeing's internal investigation, and to new federal laws, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, that affected corporate governance.
Apart from that, the settlement's only other result would be to pay up to $11.9 million to the national law firms that litigated the case, including Labaton, Sucharow & Rudoff; Lasky & Rifkind; and Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman.
"It's nice business for the attorneys," said John Coffee, professor of corporate law and director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Can't Hang?
Be a better executioner, but the world won't beat a path to your door. Contra Galbraith, a guy's gotta advertise:
Two rival hangmen were severely reprimanded by their Home Office masters because they were "touting" for business in the depths of the Depression.
Tom Pierrepoint, who served as an executioner for 37 years and dispatched more than 300 men and women, and Robert Baxter were both discovered writing to under sheriffs, the local officials responsible for securing the services of the hangman.
Papers newly released at the National Archives show that Pierrepoint and Baxter wrote whenever a newspaper recorded a capital sentence passed against a murderer.
....The link between money, alcohol and hanging seems to have been a long one.
After the retirement of William Calcraft, the grand old man of the profession who served as chief hangman from 1829 to 1874, the practice of paying the official hangman of London a retainer of a guinea a week (equivalent to £700 today) was ended. Calcraft received an extra guinea for each hanging and half a crown for each flogging he administered, as well as commanding much higher fees for travelling to provincial cities to execute criminals.
....Albert Allen, a junior executioner, was reported in 1934 for being drunk at an execution by the governor of Wandsworth prison in another file just opened at Kew.
His was not the first case. Henry Pierrepoint had been sacked for turning up inebriated then fighting with a rival hangman.
Allen was placed under supervision for all subsequent executions and was sacked when he botched a hanging.
The unfortunate prisoner, Frederick Field, a murderer, did not suffer because he was knocked unconscious by the concussive impact of the hangman's knot and slowly strangled to death.
....Perhaps he should have listened to Tom Pierrepoint's sage advice to Albert when first serving as his uncle's apprentice: "If you can't do it without whisky, don't do it at all."
Two rival hangmen were severely reprimanded by their Home Office masters because they were "touting" for business in the depths of the Depression.
Tom Pierrepoint, who served as an executioner for 37 years and dispatched more than 300 men and women, and Robert Baxter were both discovered writing to under sheriffs, the local officials responsible for securing the services of the hangman.
Papers newly released at the National Archives show that Pierrepoint and Baxter wrote whenever a newspaper recorded a capital sentence passed against a murderer.
....The link between money, alcohol and hanging seems to have been a long one.
After the retirement of William Calcraft, the grand old man of the profession who served as chief hangman from 1829 to 1874, the practice of paying the official hangman of London a retainer of a guinea a week (equivalent to £700 today) was ended. Calcraft received an extra guinea for each hanging and half a crown for each flogging he administered, as well as commanding much higher fees for travelling to provincial cities to execute criminals.
....Albert Allen, a junior executioner, was reported in 1934 for being drunk at an execution by the governor of Wandsworth prison in another file just opened at Kew.
His was not the first case. Henry Pierrepoint had been sacked for turning up inebriated then fighting with a rival hangman.
Allen was placed under supervision for all subsequent executions and was sacked when he botched a hanging.
The unfortunate prisoner, Frederick Field, a murderer, did not suffer because he was knocked unconscious by the concussive impact of the hangman's knot and slowly strangled to death.
....Perhaps he should have listened to Tom Pierrepoint's sage advice to Albert when first serving as his uncle's apprentice: "If you can't do it without whisky, don't do it at all."
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