Blog

  • CEOs Expect Higher Sales, but They’re Slow to Hire

    Almost three out of four chief executives expect their sales to rise in the next six months, according to the Business Roundtable’s first-quarter survey. But few expect much hiring in the coming months.

    About 29% of CEOs said they expect employment at their companies to increase in the next six months, up from 19% expecting an increase over that horizon when they were surveyed in the fourth quarter. About 21% of CEOs said they expect their firm’s employment to decline in the next six months, better than the 31% in the prior quarter. Half expect no change in employment, the same share as in the prior quarter.

    “Most people are kind of steady, which I think is good news in this regard,” Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of the Business Roundtable and CEO of Verizon Communications, told reporters on a conference call. He said some areas, such as the retail sector, are adding more than others. “I would read this as a good thing, but I don’t think it’s across the board.” Employment gains are expected to lag behind sales as they generally do in business cycles, he said.

    The survey by the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs from major corporations, included responses from 105 executives in the second half of March.

    John Castellani, the group’s president, said the latest report marks the first time since the first quarter of 2008 when more employers are projecting higher employment than lower employment over the next six months. In the first quarter of 2009, 71% of CEOs said they expected lower employment over the following six months, while just 7% expected employment to rise.

    In the latest survey, the 73% of CEOs expecting higher sales over the next six months marked an improvement from 68% in the fourth quarter. Only 5% expect a decrease, far better than the 17% expecting declining sales in the fourth-quarter survey.

    About 47% of CEOs expect capital spending to increase in the next six months, up from 40% in the fourth-quarter survey. Roughly 7% expect a decrease, down from 16% in the fourth quarter.

    In a separate survey by the Conference Board, 30% of CEOs said they anticipate an increase in employment in their industry, up from 3% a year ago. The proportion expecting a decrease in hiring fell to 22% from 86% a year ago. Executives listed as their top obstacles to hiring new workers: regulation/litigation, health care costs and then wage/salary costs.

    In that survey, collected by the business research group between mid-February and mid-March, about 71% of CEOs said current economic conditions have improved compared to six months ago, down from 75% last quarter. In assessing their own industries, however, 59% said conditions are now better, compared with 54% last quarter.

    Looking ahead, about 52% of CEOs said they expect overall economic conditions to improve in the next six months, down from 58% last quarter. For their own industries, 42% of CEOs expect improvement in the coming months, down from 45% last quarter.


  • Alabama Trial Judge Resists Political Pressure to Override Jury Verdict of Life Without Parole in High-Profile Case

    A Madison County Circuit Court judge followed the jury’s sentencing verdict and imposed a sentence of life imprisonment without parole on Kenneth Shipp, despite substantial political pressure calling for the judge to override the jury’s verdict and sentence Mr. Shipp to death.

    read more

  • Driver charged with murder in death of 13-year-old Malibu pedestrian; detectives seek witnesses

    Prosecutors have filed a murder charge against a driver accused of striking down and killing a 13-year-old Malibu girl this weekend.

    The driver, Sina Khankhanian, 26, was charged with one count of murder and an allegation that he used a deadly weapon, an
    automobile.

    Emily Rose Shane had just left a friend’s home about 5 p.m. Saturday
    and was walking north on the right side of Pacific Coast Highway near
    Kanan Dume Road when she was struck by a blue Mitsubishi Lancer, the
    Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The vehicle then ran into
    an power pole and flipped over.

    Khankhanian, of Winnetka, was detained at the scene and later booked
    on the murder count at the Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff’s station. Authorities
    determined that Khankhanian may have deliberately crashed his vehicle.
    They do not believe he intended to hit Emily.

    Anyone
    who saw the vehicle before the crash or saw the incident is asked to
    call the Sheriff’s Department homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500. 

    –Corina Knoll

  • Spain high court charges judge Garzon with abuse of power in Franco probe

    [JURIST] The Spanish Supreme Court on Wednesday charged National Court judge Baltasar Garzon with abuse of power for the investigation of war crimes allegedly committed under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. In 2008, Garzon ordered the exhumation of 19 mass graves in Spain in order to assemble a definitive national registry of Civil War victims, despite a 1977 amnesty law. Investigating magistrate Luciano Varela ruled that it is likely Garzon committed abuse of power by conducting the investigation. Garzon’s lawyer plans to challenge the charges on appeal and has described the proceedings as “contaminated.” No trial date has been set. If convicted, Garzon could be removed from the bench.
    After a February ruling that Garzon may have exceeded his jurisdictional authority by launching the investigation, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled last month that he could be formally charged. Garzon has consistently defended the validity of the investigation by insisting that he acted within the bounds of the law and appropriately applied the law at all times. The Supreme Court agreed to review Garzon’s actions last May in response to a complaint filed by Manos Limpias, a union of public servants in Spain, which alleged that Garzon did not have the requisite jurisdictional authority to launch the investigation. Just one month after Garzon launched the investigation in 2008, Spanish prosecutors and other political figures voiced their concern by challenging the validity of the investigation. Garzon is widely known for using universal jurisdiction extensively in the past to bring several high-profile cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Latin American dictator Augusto Pinochet.

  • Deadly Record: Massey’s Montcoal mine cited for 3,000 violations, over $2.2 million in fines

    Thousands of Safety Violations at Upper Big Branch Mine

    Massey Energy is actively contesting millions of dollars of fines for safety violations at its West Virginia coal mine where disaster struck this week.  Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has the story:

    Twenty-five miners were killed and another four are missing after a explosion took place at 3 pm Monday at Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co.’s Upper Big Branch Mine-South between the towns of Montcoal and Naoma. It is “the most people killed in a U.S. mine since 1984, when 27 died in a fire at Emery Mining Corp.’s mine in Orangeville, Utah.” This deadly mine has been cited for over 3,000 violations by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), 638 since 2009:

    Since 1995, Massey’s Upper Big Branch-South Mine has been cited for 3,007 safety violations. Massey is contesting 353 violations, and 127 are delinquent. [MSHA]

    Massey is contesting over a third (34.7%) of the 516 safety citations the Upper Big Branch-South Mine received in 2009, its greatest count in the last 15 years. [MSHA]

    In March 2010, 53 new safety citations were issued for Massey’s Upper Big Branch-South Mine, including violations of its mine ventilation plan. [MSHA]

    Massey is now contesting $1,128,833 in fines for safety violations at the deadly Upper Big Branch-South Mine, with a further $246,320 in delinquent fines:

    Over $2.2 million in fines have been assessed against Massey’s Upper Big Branch-South Mine since 1995, with $791,327 paid. Massey is contesting $1,128,833 in fines. Massey’s delinquent fines total $246,320. [MSHA]

    Massey is contesting $251,613 in fines for citations for Upper Big Branch-South Mine’s ventilation plan. [MSHA]

    Millions of Dollars in Safety Fines at Upper Big Branch Mine

    Before yesterday’s tragic explosion, there have been three fatalities at Massey’s Upper Big Branch-South Mine in the last twelve years — one each in 1998, 2001, and 2003. Massey’s corrupt CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce board member Don Blankenship, has previously told employees that it was more important to “run coal” than follow safety regulations.

    In 2002, President George W. Bush “named former Massey Energy official Stanley Suboleski to the MSHA review commission that decides all legal matters under the Federal Mine Act,” and cut 170 positions from MSHA. Bush’s MSHA chief, Dick Stickler, was a former manager of Beth Energy mines, which “incurred injury rates double the national average.” On October 21, 2009, the Senate confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice to replace Stickler, Joe Main, a “career union official and mine safety expert.” Massey’s Suboleski is still an active review commissioner.

    Update Although Upper Big Branch-South is a non-union mine, the United Mine Workers of America has sent expert personnel to the site of the accident, said United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts:

    We are all brothers and sisters in the coalfields at times like this.

  • Heparin Overdose Kills 2-Year Old Transplant Survivor

    A two-year-old girl appears to have died of a heparin overdose in an Omaha hospital after being admitted to treat an infection.  This tragedy is the latest in a string of infant overdoses involving the blood thinner.

    Almariah Duque, a 23 month old girl from Dallas, was born with a birth defect and had survived a transplant of her small intestines, pancreas and liver in December, according to a CNN report. However, despite surviving the surgeries, Duque died at the Nebraska Medical Center on Wednesday after being given too strong a dose of the blood thinner Heparin.

    Duque was given the drug, an anticoagulant, to prevent blood clotting. The hospital has apologized to Duque’s parents, and have agreed to pay medical and funeral expenses.

    The little girl’s death, which is still under investigation by hospital officials, is one of a number of incidents in recent years where infants overdosed on heparin due to preventable human errors.

    In October 2006, three premature infants died from a fatal heparin overdose at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, when the hospital used adult dosage vials of Baxter heparin instead of pediatric dosage vials. Following that incident, Baxter Healthcare Corp. sent a warning letter to healthcare workers stressing that they should read labels on the heparin vials with care to prevent such mistakes.

    Another similar medication mistake was made in November 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where babies were given the adult doses of the blood thinner, instead of the pediatric version. Although Baxter had agreed prior to this incident to change the labels for their pediatric heparin to avoid confusion, they did not issue a heparin recall for the existing stock of the drug that remained with hospitals.

    Actor Dennis Quaid’s newborn twins were among the babies that were given 1,000 times the normal dosage. Quaid later filed a product liability lawsuit against Baxter, the makers of heparin, alleging that the product was unreasonably dangerous because the company packaged adult and pediatric versions of the blood thinner in vials of the same size, with nearly identical blue backgrounds, making it difficult to tell them apart.

    In July 2008, 14 premature babies at a Texas hospital were given incorrect heparin doses, resulting in several deaths. That incident was attributed to a pharmacy dosing error, which resulted in babies in the neonatal intensive care unit being given much higher concentrations of blood thinner than they were prescribed.

  • Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe confirmed, coming next year

    Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that its C-Class model range will indeed include the addition of a Coupe variant in 2011. The automaker is expanding its Bremen plant for the production of the fourth model of the high-volume C-Class model range. This will be a new addition to Bremen’s current production portfolio in the C-Class segment, consisting of the sedan, the wagon and the compact GLK SUV.

    “The decision by the Board of Management to produce the Coupé version of the current C-Class here in Bremen as well represents another important milestone on our way to becoming Mercedes’ competence centre for the C-Class and is a clear sign of the trust in the Bremen team’s capabilities and standards,” said Peter Schabert, Head of the Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen.

    “Allocating production of the new Coupé to the plant is in keeping with this strategy,” Mercedes-Benz said in a statement. “As announced in December 2009, the launch of the next generation of the C-Class at the plant as of 2014 will see production of the C-Class Saloon for markets in Europe concentrated at a single location together with the production of the other C-Class model variants.”

    – By: Omar Rana


  • Fruit and Veggies Won’t Save Your Life

    Filed under: ,

    Think five to 10 servings of fruit and veggies a day is the secret to a long and healthy life? You’re not alone — for years, experts touted the magical benefits of fresh produce to the masses. But recent research has found that fruits and vegetables … Read more

     

    Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

  • President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/6/10

    04.06.10 01:23 PM

    WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key administration posts:

    Marina C. McCarthy, Chair, Commission on Presidential Scholars José Miguel Amaya, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Michael A. Caplin, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Martha A. Darling, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars I. King Jordan, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Colin Kippen, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Yvette Lewis, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Reginald Lewis, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Sheldon Pang, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Srinija Srinivasan, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Donald M. Stewart, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars Cynthia Telles, Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars These individuals will join the National Teacher of the Year, Anthony Mullen, as members on the Commission.

    President Obama said, “The Commission on Presidential Scholars is charged with recognizing the future leaders of our country and honoring them for their outstanding achievements. I am grateful that these impressive men and women have agreed to serve on this commission and help a new generation realize their potential and pursue their dreams.”

    President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key administration posts:

    Marina C. McCarthy, Appointee for Chair, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Dr. Marina C. McCarthy has over three decades of research, teaching, administrative, and consulting experience in education. She has also taught courses in education at Harvard and Brown Universities and at Boston College. In addition, Dr. McCarthy has supervised student teachers in the Brown University teacher training program and has been a case writer for a University-wide faculty development program run by the Harvard Business School. She has served as an Allston Burr Senior Tutor (resident academic dean) at Harvard College and as a Study Group Leader on educational policy and politics at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and also taught in public and independent schools in the U.S. and Europe, and has served on a number of educational boards and committees including the MATCH Charter School in Boston. She holds an Ed.D. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard.

    José Miguel Amaya, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Dr. José Amaya is currently the Director of Diversity for Hy-Vee, Inc., an employee-owned retail corporation operating 230 retail stores in eight Midwestern states. From 1997-2005, he served as an Assistant Professor of English and Latino Studies at Iowa State University where he conducted research and taught courses in American literature and Latino studies. During Dr. Amaya’s tenure at Iowa State, he also served as the President of The State of Iowa Humanities Council and the Iowa Learns Education Council, an education council convened by former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. Prior to his position at Iowa State University, he was an Assistant Professor of English at The Ohio State University. Dr. Amaya holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in English from UCLA.

    Michael A. Caplin, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Michael A. Caplin is an attorney and President of Turtle Island Consulting, which provides strategic planning advice to the non-profit community. He has been involved in a wide array of non-profit projects including programs in performing arts, social services, education, and environmental stewardship. His non-profit experience includes serving for 11 years as the Director of Eastern Operations for Childhelp USA. He also has worked as a public defender, a federal prosecutor, an educator, an entertainment attorney, and a music producer. Mr. Caplin currently serves as Chairman of the Board and a member of the faculty of the Phoenix Project, a non-profit that educates and empowers emerging social entrepreneurs; in addition, he is President of the Board of the New York Center for Children, a non-profit free clinic providing care and treatment for abused children. Mr. Caplin holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College, a J.D. from the University Virginia Law School, and an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law School.

    Martha A. Darling, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    For the past decade, Martha Darling has consulted on education issues for the National Academy of Sciences and other nonprofits. She retired from The Boeing Company in Seattle, having held senior management assignments in 747 Program Management, Government Affairs, and Boeing’s Corporate Offices where she supported the CEO on education policy. Previously, Ms. Darling was Vice President for Strategic Planning at Seattle-First National Bank and Executive Director of the Washington Business Roundtable’s Education Study. She has served as a White House Fellow and Executive Assistant to Secretary of the Treasury Michael Blumenthal and as a Senior Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. Earlier, she was a free-lance consultant to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and other international organizations for four years in Paris. Darling is a founding co-chair of Washtenaw County’s Success by Six early childhood initiative and serves on a variety of other boards. She is a graduate of Reed College and of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

    I. King Jordan, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Dr. I. King Jordan was the first deaf President of Gallaudet University, the only university with all programs and services designed specifically for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. He first joined the faculty of Gallaudet’s Department of Psychology in 1973, in 1983 he became Chair of the Department, and three years later he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He served as the University’s President from 1988-2006 and is presently President Emeritus. Dr. Jordan is a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Citizen’s Medal and in 1990 was appointed as the Vice Chair of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities; he was reappointed to this position in 1993. Dr. Jordan earned a B.A. in psychology from Gallaudet in 1970. The following year he earned an M.A., and in 1973 a Ph.D., both in psychology and both from the University of Tennessee.

    Colin Kippen, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Colin Kippen is currently Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council, which aims to assess and coordinate innovative education programs for Native Hawaiians and make policy recommendations to improve the education and well being of Native Hawaiians. Mr. Kippen has worked most of his professional life as an advocate for Native Americans in a number of venues. He has served as Senior Counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in the U.S. Senate, Deputy Administrator for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Chief Judge of the Suquamish Indian Tribe on the Port Madison Indian Reservation in Western Washington, Appellate Judge for several Indian tribes in Washington and Oregon, and trial attorney and Deputy Prosecutor in King County, Washington. Kippen is also the former Chairman of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation and Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee. Mr. Kippen holds a J.D. and a M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa.

    Yvette Lewis, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Yvette Lewis is the founder and director of “So This is Opera,” a program that introduces young audiences to the world of opera in performance, workshop and residency settings. She is also a lyric soprano who has performed extensively, including appearances with the Washington Opera, the Baltimore Opera, the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, the Baltimore Symphony, and at the Spoleto Festival in Melbourne, Australia. Ms. Lewis has almost fifteen years experience as an elementary general music teacher in the Baltimore City and Montgomery County, Maryland Public Schools. She also worked for a period as a staff assistant at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Lewis holds a Mus.B. from Howard University and is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists.

    Reginald Lewis, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Reginald Lewis currently serves as the City Administrator for the City of East Orange, New Jersey, where he oversees the complete day-to-day operations of all municipal services for 70,000 residents. As the City’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Lewis manages a workforce of nearly 1,000 employees and an annual operating budget of $131 million. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Lewis was Executive Vice President at the United Way in Newark, New Jersey. He also previously served in senior management roles in New Jersey State Government from 2002 to 2005 as Special Assistant and Director of the Commissioner’s Office of External Affairs in the Department of Human Services and as Special Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Abbott Implementation in the Department of Education. Mr. Lewis also spent nearly eight years serving on the program staffs of various foundations as Program Assistant to the Director of the Urban Poverty Program of the Ford Foundation in New York City, Program Officer at the Victoria Foundation in Montclair, New Jersey, Program Officer for Education at the Joyce Foundation in Chicago, and Director of Policy and Program Development at the Fund for New Jersey. Mr. Lewis holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Morehouse College, and a M.A. in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.

    Sheldon Pang, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Sheldon Pang is currently a Vice Chairman of RBC Capital Markets, a major part of the Royal Bank of Canada’s global business. From 2004-2006, he served as President of RBC Capital Markets Pacific Group, where he was involved in developing RBC’s business in the Asian Pacific region. Prior to joining RBC, Mr. Pang spent twelve years with AIG Trading Group, first as a Vice President then as a Managing Director, providing services to international clients in commodities, foreign exchange, and fixed income trading. He started his career as a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Pang has for years been involved in promoting educational causes, including the establishment of scholarships at MIT and Brown University, and supporting New York Huaxia Chinese School. Pang received an Sc.B. from Zhejiang University, an M.S. from Vanderbilt University, and an Sc.D. degree from MIT.

    Srinija Srinivasan, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Srinija Srinivasan is Vice President and Editor in Chief at Yahoo!. Since joining the company as its fifth employee in 1995, Srinivasan has led a range of editorial and policy functions, beginning with the organization and evolution of the Yahoo! directory. She has overseen network editorial standards and original content development, guided the company’s corporate responsibility arm, and directed policy issues including privacy and data use, advertising standards, youth safety, community guidelines, and accessibility. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Srinivasan was involved with the Cyc Project, a ten-year artificial intelligence effort to build an immense database of human commonsense knowledge. She chairs the Board of Trustees for SFJAZZ, a non-profit organization dedicated to jazz creation, presentation, and education. She is also a member of the 2000 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute. She holds a B.S. with distinction from Stanford University in Symbolic Systems, and was honored as a Presidential Scholar in 1989.

    Donald M. Stewart, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Donald M. Stewart is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy Studies where he has taught since 2005. He previously served as CEO and President of the Chicago Community Trust. Prior to joining the Trust, Stewart was a Senior Program Officer and Special Advisor to the President at the Carnegie Corporation of New York. For over 12 years, Mr. Stewart was President and CEO of the College Board, which provides SAT and Advanced Placement assessments to help students make the transition from high school to college. Stewart is also former President of Spelman College, the 129 year old historically black women’s college in Atlanta. Stewart was a program officer in the Overseas Development Division of the Ford Foundation serving in Nigeria, Egypt and Tunisia. He is currently a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He earned a B.A. from Grinnell College and a M.A. from Yale University as well as Master and Doctoral degrees in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

    Cynthia Telles, Appointee for Member, Commission on Presidential Scholars
    Dr. Cynthia Ann Telles has been on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry since 1986. She is currently the Director of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute Spanish-Speaking Psychosocial Clinic where she is responsible for managing the clinical operations of this model psychiatric clinic, as well as the training program, research, and budget. Among many corporate, non-profit, and public service board memberships, Dr. Telles was also appointed to the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the advisory group on Health Care Reform, and the Regional Selection Panel for the White House Fellows Program during the Clinton Administration. Dr. Telles received her B.A. from Smith College and doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Boston University.

    White House.gov Press Office Feed

  • Readout of the President’s Call to Georgian President Saakashvili

    04.06.10 12:42 PM

    President Obama called Georgian President Saakashvili today to thank President Saakashvili for Georgia’s significant contribution to the international effort in Afghanistan, as the Georgian battalion deploys this month alongside American Marines in Helmand. The President relayed the strong support of the United States for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They discussed the importance of all sides avoiding provocative actions to build stability in the region. The President appreciated President Saakashvili’s continuing commitment to democratic and economic reforms in order to fulfill the promise of the Rose Revolution. They discussed their shared interest in achieving the historic goals set forth by the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit.

    White House.gov Press Office Feed

  • National Park Week

    04.07.10 03:48 AM

    Now that it looks as if warm weather is really here, some of my friends have started to gather ideas for activities to do during the summer.

    Some of the suggestions are right up my alley: baseball games (check), weekend down the shore (say no more), backyard barbeques (sold).

    The one idea that is less than appealing to me was: camping. Mneh. I avoid all situations that require sleeping sans air conditioning.

    But for those who do appreciate and enjoy nature, coming up is an ideal opportunity for you to take advantage of the great outdoors. (side note: I do enjoy "The Great Outdoors"- in the form of the 1988 John Candy comedy.)

    April 17-25 is National Park Week. In celebration, the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees for the 100 parks that charge for admission – making all 392 of its parks free!

    In addition, some parks are running specials on camping gear and souvenirs.

    What national parks have you been to, or were looking to visit?

    Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog …

  • California Democrat proposes mandatory gun registration

    Posted: 04.07.10 01:16 AM

    A California Democrat is proposing a new law requiring residents to register their shotguns and rifles or go to jail, CBSNews.com has learned. Assemblyman Mike Feuer, whose district includes Beverly Hill and West Hollywood, this week introduced legislation ordering law enforcement to "permanently keep" records of anyone who buys a gun from a dealer or an individual. California already stores information about handgun purchases.

    Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13647

  • Texas: A&M Students protest silently with empty holsters this week

    Posted: 04.07.10 01:16 AM

    In the wake of campus tragedies such as the Virginia Tech shootings, students across the nation support concealed guns on college campuses. Texas A&M’s chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is participating in the Empty Holster Protest this week.

    Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13646

  • Michigan: OU students protest ban of guns on campus

    Posted: 04.07.10 01:15 AM

    Members of a relatively new student group at Oakland University are walking around campus this week wearing empty holsters to promote their view that students should be able to carry concealed weapons on campus.

    Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13645

  • Connecticut: CCSU students protest campus gun rules

    Posted: 04.07.10 01:14 AM

    American colleges generally ban weapons on campus, a violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, according to Central Connecticut State University’s Riflery and Marksmanship Club. Members are taking part in the national Empty Holster Protest, wearing empty holsters on their belts all week to call attention to their gun free status.

    Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13644

  • Canada set to repeal registration of hunting rifles, shotguns

    Posted: 04.07.10 01:12 AM

    After nearly 20 years, Canada appears poised to end one of its boldest experiments in gun control the required registration of long guns, or shotguns and hunting rifles. Last November, a bill to abolish the Long Gun Registry, enacted in 1995 and gradually phased in through 2003, passed a second reading in the Canadian House of Commons by a tally of 164 to 137. It faces a third and final reading in that chamber later this year; prospects are good for passage in the Canadian Senate.

    Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13642

  • Pro-Gun Legislation on the Move in Arizona Legislature!

    Posted: 04.06.10 01:53 PM

    As session continues in Phoenix, numerous pro-gun bills are continuing to advance in the legislature. We expect action in the near future on several of these bills, including constitutional carry legislation (SB1108/HB2347), the Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment (HCR2008) and a bill to prohibit the registration of firearms (HB2629).

    Source: http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=5695

  • Morning Bell: How the Left Really Plans to Pay for Obamacare

    On 04.07.10 05:30 AM posted by Conn Carroll

    According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), over half of President Barack Obama’s new $940 billion health care entitlement is paid for by price-fixing Medicare cuts. Never mind that the President’s own Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says that these cuts would cause “roughly 20 percent” of Medicare providers to go bankrupt in Obamacare’s first ten years. The CBO has to believe these cuts will happen because they are required, by law, to believe everything Congress tells them. The American people are not. So the American people ought to know that instead of cutting doctors’ Medicare reimbursement rates by 21% as required by law on April 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services froze payments at current levels until Congress could come back after Easter recess and rescind those cuts. Again. As they have done every year but one since the cuts were first enacted in 1997.

    This doc fix is big enough that, if it had been included as a cost of Obamacare, it would have sent the President’s bill into the red all by itself. But the half trillion dollars in Medicare cuts used to fund the rest of Obamacare are a much bigger problem. Even if we assume they all go as planned, President Obama’s budget would borrow 42 cents for each dollar spent in 2010; would run a $1.6 trillion deficit in 2010; and would leave permanent deficits that top $1 trillion as late as 2020. Add on the half trillion dollars in Medicare cuts that, given Congress’ track record, the American people would be naive to think will ever happen, and the federal government is looking at a pile of new debt.

    The left’s solution to this problem has been simmering for some time now. Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) floated the idea to The Washington Post last May. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Charlie Rose it was “on the table” in October. And yesterday White House adviser Paul Volcker told the New York Historical Society it should be considered. The “it” here is a Value Added Tax (VAT), which is a fancy way of saying national sales tax.

    A VAT can be (and has been) structured in many different ways. But the real world results are always the same: higher taxes, more government spending, lower growth, fewer jobs and more special interest power.

    Higher Taxes: Don’t believe for a second that a VAT will help offset other taxes. International evidence clearly shows that a VAT is likely to increase the aggregate burden of govern*ment. Europeans used to only have a slightly higher tax burden than the United States. But beginning in the late 1960s, European countries began to implement VATs. Since then, the overall tax burden in Europe has climbed rapidly. And once a VAT is in place, the evidence shows that the tax rate rises over time.

    Higher Government Spending: Not surprisingly, with more revenues, European governments turn around and spend much more than the United States does. According to a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, government spending grew 45 percent faster in VAT nations than in non-VAT countries.

    Slower Growth: According to the academic literature, there is a strong negative relationship between govern*ment spending and economic performance. In other words, more government spending means less economic growth and fewer jobs. Economic growth is driven by individuals and entrepreneurs operating in free markets, not by Washington spending and regulations.

    More Power to Washington: There is one economy that would greatly benefit from a VAT: Washington, DC. No VAT could ever be levied evenly on all goods and services. Due to political considerations, a VAT in addition to current taxes would likely exempt politically sensitive items like food, clothing, health care and housing. Industries would lobby heavily for exemptions from the VAT for the economic benefits described above. This would give Congress an even larger role in picking winners and losers in the marketplace. Success would depend less on ingenuity and hard work and more on the ability to gain political favor.

    Our nation faces a financial crisis. But low revenues are not the problem. Spending is. Heritage fellow Brian Riedl explains:

    Real federal spending remained steady at $21,000 per household throughout the 1980s and 1990s, before President Bush hiked it to $25,000 per household. Now, President Obama has a proposed a budget that would permanently spend a staggering $32,000 per household annually – and that’s before all the baby boomers retire and add another $10,000 per household in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicare costs to the bottom line.

    So the problem is not declining revenues, but rather a spending spree unlike any in American history. If Washington insists on spending $32,000 per household, it will have to tax $32,000 per household – an unaffordable and unfair tax burden regardless what kind of tax collects it.

    Rather than tax America into permanent economic stagnation, President Obama and Congress must rein in runaway federal spending. Simply bringing real federal spending back to the $21,000 per household average that prevailed in the 1980s and 1990s would balance the budget by 2012 without raising a single tax on anyone. Even returning spending to the pre-recession level of 20 percent of GDP would eliminate two-thirds of the projected 2019 budget deficit without raising taxes.

    Quick Hits:

    <ul>According to the Treasury Department, President Obama and Democratic lawmakers plan to

  • Alfa Romeo Giulietta official interior video

    This video tour shows us the official interior of the new Alfa Giulietta. The video says that the interior has been based on that of the Alfa 8C and includes brushed aluminium finishes, pop-up navigator display and Blue&Me multimedia system with USB outlet. It looks like quite a classy effort from Alfa and with eight Bose sound speakers we can only imagine this thing rocks when turned on.

    Alfa Giulietta new pics Geneva preview Alfa Giulietta new pics Geneva preview Alfa Giulietta new pics Geneva preview Alfa Giulietta new pics Geneva preview