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Sunday, April 7, 2013

State's Union Bill 'Political Payback'?

Maryland lawmakers agreed this week to require public school teachers to pay union fees ? a move that bolsters the state?s connection to organized labor as others move toward a right-to-work status.

The bill passed Thursday in the General Assembly and is headed to the desk of Democratic Gov. Martin O?Malley for signing after Monday, the final day of Maryland?s 2013 legislative session.

The bill is also part of a larger progressive agenda put fourth this year by leaders of the Democrat-controlled Assembly that includes the approval of tax increases and one of the toughest gun-control proposals in the country.

State Sen. David Brinkley calls the fees a ?forced tax? and disagrees with union claims that representation will benefit every teacher.

?If the representation is so exceptional, then everybody would join,? he said. ?I just don?t buy it. It?s a political payback that has nothing substantial to do with the merits of education.?

The bill will require tens of thousands of public school teachers to pay close to 1 percent of their paychecks in so-called ?fair share? fees to cover the cost of contract negotiations and grievance representation.

Union leaders say the legislation attempts to create uniformity across Maryland and that non-union workers should share the cost.

?We just have a patchwork of bills with no consistency,? said Sean Johnson, the Maryland State Teachers Association?s managing director of legislative and legal affairs.

Johnson acknowledged some issues are best decided on a local level but not in this case, in which some workers pay for union representatives to negotiate fair pay and benefits while others do not.

Right now, 24 states have right-to-work statues, which prohibit unions from requiring employees to join or pay dues as a condition of employment, according to the National Right to Work Foundation.

?The right to work has been on the march for several decades,? said Greg Mourad, vice president for the Right to Work Committee. ?And Maryland is moving in the wrong direction in relation to the rest of America.?

He also said the recent efforts by governors in Indian and Michigan that made their states right to work states ?stunned a lot of people.?

Mourad said the key points are employees want freedom in the workplace and employers want to open businesses where they can treat their employees fairly and they won?t be forced to join unions. ??

The new Maryland legislation is an extension of 2009 legislation passed by the Assembly -- at the request of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ? that requires all state workers except teachers to pay the fees.

Right now, teachers in Baltimore City and nine of the state?s 23 counties already pay the fee, as do all other state employees including prison guards and state troopers.

Johnson also said the fees are not automatic and will be decided during future contract negotiations between the union and local school boards. The fees will not go toward political activities and workers are not being forced to join the union, he also said. ?

The legislature has already passed O?Malley incremental gas-tax increase that will up the price of a gallon of gas by as much as 20 cents by 2016 and the governor?s gun-control bill, which is considered among the toughest in the county. The bill includes bans on assault weapons, limits on high-capacity magazines and fingerprinting for buyers.

Mourad said he expects O?Malley will sign the union bill.

O?Malley?s office said Wednesday the bill was not part of the governor?s legislative agency and ?no decision has been made? whether he would sign it.

"Gov. O?Malley has been competing with (New York) Gov. Cuomo to make Maryland the most liberal and high taxed state in the nation," said state Republican Delegate Susan Krebs. "It is a race to the bottom for Maryland, this is all ?an effort by the governor to position himself to the left of his potential presidential contenders.? There is no doubt that Maryland has become the bluest of blue states."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/06/maryland-lawmakers-pass-bill-forcing-teachers-to-pay-union-fees-reversing-right/

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Church: Pastor Rick Warren's son commits suicide

LAKE FOREST, Calif. The Southern California church headed by popular evangelical Pastor Rick Warren announced Saturday that Warren's 27-year-old son has committed suicide.

Warren's Saddleback Valley Community Church said in a statement that Matthew Warren had struggled with mental illness and deep depression throughout his life.

"Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thoughts. Despite the best health care available, this was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life."

Warren, the author of the multimillion-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life," said in an email to church staff that he and his wife had enjoyed a fun Friday evening with their son before Matthew Warren returned home to take his life in "a momentary wave of despair."

Church spokeswoman Kristin Cole said he died Friday night.

Over the years, Matthew Warren had been treated by America s best doctors, had received counseling and medication and been the recipient of numerous prayers from others, his father said.

Still, he struggled over the years.

"I'll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew said 'Dad, I know I'm going to heaven. Why can't I just die and end this pain?'" Warren recalled.

Despite that, he said, his son lived for another decade, during which he often reached out to help others.

"You who watched Matthew grow up knew he was an incredibly kind, gentle, and compassionate man," Warren wrote. "He had a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room. He'd then make a bee-line to that person to engage and encourage them."

The elder Warren founded Saddleback Church in 1980, according to his biography on the church website, and over the years watched it grow to 20,000 members. He and his wife, Kay, began by holding Bible studies for people who weren't regular churchgoers.

In 2008, the church sponsored a presidential forum with Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney had been invited to a similar forum last fall, but Warren canceled it, saying the campaign had become too uncivil.

As Saddleback has grown over the years, it has spread out from its Lake Forest headquarters, 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles, adding several other campuses and ministries around Southern California.

The church says it now offers more than 200 community ministries and support groups for parents, families, children, couples, prisoners, addicts, and people living with HIV, depression and other illnesses.

Warren was named the top newsmaker of the year for 2009 by the Religion Newswriters Association. He gained attention that year with his invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration that year and comments he made in the aftermath of California's Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/06/3964362/church-pastor-rick-warrens-son.html

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Sony outs Lightning-friendly speaker dock in Japan, alarm clock and radio features in tow

Sony may have unveiled a slew of new audio products back at CES 2013, but the company has been relatively quiet when it comes to launching ones that are compatible with Apple's novel Lightning connector. That being said, it looks as if folks in the Land of the Rising Sun will soon be able to pair their current-gen iOS device with a dock from the PlayStation maker, thanks to the recently announced SRS-GC11IP. Pictured above, this little 0.8W speaker isn't loaded with fancy features like Bluetooth 4.0 or WiFi, but it does offer convenient functions such as an alarm clock and AM / FM radio -- these, of course, go along with the ability to also play tunes straight from a Lighting-ready iDevice or, with the proper RDP-NWC11 model, a new-era Walkman and many different smartphones. Whether we'll ever see the as-yet-unpriced tubular peripheral hit other markets, well, that still remains to be seen, with Sony only going so far as to listing it as "coming soon" on its Japanese website.

Gallery: Sony RDP-NWC11 speaker dock

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Sony

Comments

Source: Sony Japan (1), (2)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/06/sony-lightning-speaker-dock/

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Teen legally known as 'Girl' fights for her name

Anna Andersen / AP

Blaer Bjarkardottir, 15, left, seen here with her mother Bjork Eidsdottir, is suing Iceland's government so that she can use her first name.

By Anna Andersen, The Associated Press

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Call her the girl with no name.

A 15-year-old is suing the Icelandic state for the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother. The problem? Blaer, which means "light breeze" in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government.

Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named. In a country comfortable with a firm state role, most people don't question the Personal Names Register, a list of 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names that fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules and that officials maintain will protect children from embarrassment. Parents can take from the list or apply to a special committee that has the power to say yea or nay.

In Blaer's case, her mother said she learned the name wasn't on the register only after the priest who baptized the child later informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.

"I had no idea that the name wasn't on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from," said Bjork Eidsdottir, adding she knew a Blaer whose name was accepted in 1973. This time, the panel turned it down on the grounds that the word Blaer takes a masculine article, despite the fact that it was used for a female character in a novel by Iceland's revered Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness.

Given names are even more significant in tiny Iceland than in many other countries: Everyone is listed in the phone book by their first names. Surnames are based on a parent's given name. Even the president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, is addressed simply as Olafur.

Blaer is identified as "Stulka" ? or "Girl" ? on all her official documents, which has led to years of frustration as she has had to explain the whole story at the bank, renewing her passport and dealing with the country's bureaucracy.

Her mother is hoping that will change with her suit, the first time someone has challenged a names committee decision in court.

Though the law has become more relaxed in recent years ? with the name Elvis permitted, inspired by the charismatic rock and roll icon whose name fits Icelandic guidelines ? choices like Cara, Carolina, Cesil, and Christa have been rejected outright because the letter "c" is not part of Iceland's 32-letter alphabet.

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"The law is pretty straightforward so in many cases it's clearly going to be a yes or a no," said Agusta Thorbergsdottir, the head of the committee, a panel of three people appointed by the government to a four-year term.

Other cases are more subjective.

"What one person finds beautiful, another person may find ugly," she acknowledged. She pointed to "Satania" as one unacceptable case because it was deemed too close to "Satan."

'Basic human right'
The board also has veto power over people who want to change their names later in life, rejecting, for instance, middle names like Zeppelin and X.

Eidsdottir says she is prepared to take her case all the way to the country's Supreme Court if a court doesn't overturn the commission decision on Jan. 25.

"So many strange names have been allowed, which makes this even more frustrating because Blaer is a perfectly Icelandic name," Eidsdottir said. "It seems like a basic human right to be able to name your child what you want, especially if it doesn't harm your child in any way."

"And my daughter loves her name," she added.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/03/16320630-teen-legally-known-only-as-girl-battles-to-use-her-own-name?lite

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U.S. public schools cut 11,000 jobs in December

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Local U.S. governments cut jobs for the fourth straight month in December, including 11,000 in public schools, dragging down the nation's fragile economic recovery, jobs data showed on Friday.

Local government jobs are now at their lowest level since October 2005, with the bulk of the decline coming from layoffs of teachers and other school employees, according to the Labor Department.

For more than a year, persistent declines in public sector employment - particularly at the city, county and school district level - have stood in contrast to steady job gains in the private sector.

Jan Eberly, the U.S. Treasury assistant secretary for economic policy, said recent improvements in state budgets may start to reverse some of the declines next year.

"There is some expectation that state and local budgets will start to improve as the economy is picking up, and we're seeing improvements in many states, though not in all states," Eberly told reporters on Friday.

Overall government employment in the United States fell by 13,000 last month, the Labor Department said. Those jobs were almost all lost in public schools. Local governments shed 11,000 school jobs, and local agencies outside of schools had 2,200 more job losses.

State governments, meanwhile, added 4,000 jobs while federal government jobs fell by 3,000 in December, according to the report.

State and local government spending grew at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the third quarter, after 11 straight quarters of contraction, the Commerce Department reported last month. But many states, cities and counties are planning to keep spending flat as they continue to face uncertainty about federal funding levels and revenues.

Since August 2008, local governments have shed some 300,000 teaching and other school jobs, raising fears the layoffs could hurt students' education. Typically, schools try to avoid cutting jobs in the middle of the school year, and make most of their staffing changes in the summer.

The figures are also a worrisome sign that local budgets are still stuck in a slump. State governments have added 24,000 jobs since last December, but local governments have cut more than double that number in the past year.

The 2009 federal economic stimulus measure helped offset states' budget gaps resulting from the recession. But with the money now gone, state aid squeezed and tax revenues low, states have chipped away at their public safety and education workforces.

"(We) remain hopeful that President (Barack) Obama and the 113th Congress, as well as governors, will prioritize our students and public education and work hard to stave off further cuts," said Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association, the largest U.S. teachers' union.

(Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-public-schools-cut-11-000-jobs-december-214439831--business.html

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Why Real Estate Investing Is For Skeptics ? Other | Raw Business Law

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a skeptic can be defined as, ?one who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.?

People generally use a derisive tone to call someone who questions things a skeptic, because it is easier for them to bully someone out of having a scientific approach to things, than to back up their own assertions. However, being a skeptic is not a bad thing, especially when it comes to money.

Skeptics make exceptionally good real estate investors. Why? Because skeptics like to investigate things. They don?t make assumptions, and they don?t let other people?s assumptions steer them. Real estate investing requires plenty of investigation.

For one thing, a skeptic doesn?t want to just nod and take everything his accountant or lawyer says, hands down. Therefore, he will learn a little bit about real estate law and about reading financial documents. A skeptic doesn?t like to be completely dependent on his team of experts, even though he knows it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to carry on without them. But his skepticism makes it easier for him to ask intelligent questions of his team, and they appreciate them for it if they are worth their salt.

The skeptic will do more than a cursory examination of a particular real estate market. He will begin with questions. He will find answers. Answers will lead to more questions, and so on, until he thinks he might have a pretty good idea of what a given area is like, real estate-wise.

The skeptic, however, doesn?t trust this idea he has developed. He wants to make sure. And so he will visit the city he is considering purchasing in. He will interview the local experts. He will interview local businessmen and politicians. He will, of course, have them back up their glowing reviews of their city. He takes nothing on face value. He digs.

When it is time to talk to actual property owners, he will use these same tactics to ferret out every possible scrap of information about a property that he can. He will annoy people who want him to simply believe what they have to say and go away. He will not believe, and he will not go away. In the end, he will have the information he came for, or he will walk away. Chances are, he will walk away anyway. A skeptic knows that most deals are not worth having.

Ken McElroy, author of ?The ABCs of Real Estate Investing,? applauds the skeptic. In fact, he approaches investing in just that manner, with levels upon levels of research, and by insisting that assertions are backed up. So far, it has worked for him.