PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) – Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal
The world's rich and developed economies will grow faster next year, but recovery will remain modest, with the U.S. and Japan outpacing Europe, a Paris-based watchdog said Thursday as it raised its forecasts.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development more than doubled its estimate for 2010 growth in its 30 member countries -- which include the U.S., Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom -- to 1.9 percent.
Still, the recovery is expected to remain fragile.
"In most OECD economies, growth is likely to fluctuate around a modest underlying rate for some time to come," said the organization's top economist, Jorgen Elmeskov, in an editorial.
"It is being held back by still substantial headwinds. It is only some time down the line that the recovery will become sufficiently strong to begin to reduce unemployment."
The OECD also reduced the expected contraction this year to 3.5 percent from an earlier forecast of 4.1 percent. The organization publishes its economic outlook twice a year, although it updated some 2009 forecasts in an interim assessment published in September.
The U.S. economy has been boosted by stimulus measures, improving financial conditions, demand from the fast-growing non-OECD economies of Asia -- especially China -- and the stabilization of the housing market, the OECD said. It predicted unemployment will start to ease after peaking in the first half of 2010.
It predicts the U.S. economy will expand at a rate of 2.5 percent in 2010, up from a June forecast of 0.9 percent. It also expects a smaller contraction this year: a 2.5 percent fall in output compared with an interim September forecast of a 2.8 percent drop.
In Europe, the economies of the 16 countries sharing the euro are now expected to grow by 0.9 percent next year compared to a June forecast of zero growth. However, the OECD predicts a greater contraction of 4 percent this year, more than the 3.9 percent it calculated in September.
Unemployment is not set to peak before the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011, and is likely to sap the strength of recovery, the OECD said.
Japan's economy will grow by 1.8 percent next year compared with the June forecast of 0.7 percent. The OECD reduced prediction for a contraction this year to 5.3 percent compared to a 5.6 percent rate seen in September.
Elmeskov said central banks should keep interest rates low and should beware of the dangers of deflation, while governments should work on plans to reduce debt levels as the economy recovers.
If Jesus of Nazareth was anything, he was an extraordinary friend of the down-trodden, definitely a liberal, whose advocacy on their behalf so infuriated the ultra-Conservative religious and political leaders of his day that they had him killed to prevent the public from hearing the very liberal teaching that you will see quoted abundantly in Jesus' won words on this web site
Those who actually know what the Bible says about the life and teaching of Jesus recognize that far from being like Jesus of Nazareth, today's "Religious Right" are much more like the kind of clerics who battled this revolutionary prophet from the day he opened his mouth until the day they had him nailed to a cross. Although these people claim to represent Jesus Christ, they rarely quote his teaching or follow his example. What they do instead is use his name ("in vain") to promote their ideas, ideas which Jesus himself did not teach, and might well have opposed.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin’s new memoir, “Going Rogue,” already has been strongly criticized by John McCain’s aides for her account as a vice presidential candidate on the ticket with him in their unsuccessful 2008 race for the White House.
Now, add Alaskan experts who were involved in the case over the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster saying her account over her role in the litigation is distorted for a number of reasons.
In the book, Palin claims to have helped the fishermen, Alaska Natives and other individuals suing Exxon over spill damages prevail in their legal case.
“It took years for Alaska to achieve victory. As governor, I directed our attorney general to write an amicus brief in the case, and, thanks to Alaska’s able attorneys arguing in front of the highest court in the land, in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the people,” she writes in her book. “Finally, Alaskans could recover some of their losses.”
But Palin’s claims of victory for the plaintiffs and of playing a role in achieving that victory are highly distorted, said the chief attorney for the approximately 32,000 plaintiffs that sued Exxon over damages from the worst oil-tanker spill in U.S. waters.
“That is the most cockamamie baloney,” said Dave Oesting of Anchorage, lead plaintiff attorney in the private litigants’ civil case against Exxon and its successor, Exxon Mobil Corp. “She didn’t have a damn thing to do with it, and she didn’t know what it was about.”
While the Supreme Court in its June 25, 2008 decision did uphold the right of the plaintiffs to receive some punitive damages, it slashed the award dramatically. The Supreme Court ordered that punitive damages be no more than $507.5 million, down from the $2.5 billion ordered by a U.S. appeals court and the jury’s original verdict of $5 billion.
While the plaintiffs did manage to salvage some punitive damages, the result was hardly a win, said Riki Ott, a scientist, environmental activist and longtime commercial fisherman from the Prince William Sound town of Cordova.
“It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace to the legal system. It’s a disgrace to intellectual honesty to call 10 cents on the dollar a win for Alaskans,” said Ott, who has written a book about the spill and the failure of the justice system to address it.
At the time of the Supreme Court ruling, even Palin described it as a bitter disappointment to Alaskans rather than a victory. In an interview with Reuters, she said the state will tighten its oversight of the oil industry in response. “Exxon will know that we’re very disappointed in this ruling,” she said then.
CNN Poll: Most Americans say Palin not qualified to serve as President.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Fewer than three in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin's qualified to be president, according to a new national poll - the least of any of the five potential candidates included in the survey.
But another woman tops that list in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday: two-thirds of the public thinks that Secretary of State HIllary Clinton's qualified for the Oval Office. That's more than Vice President Joe Biden, who's currently next in line for the presidency.
According to the poll, 28 percent of Americans say Palin is qualified to run the White House, with seven in 10 saying the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee is not qualified.
The survey indicates that a majority of Republicans, 54 percent, feel Palin is qualified, with 44 percent indicating she isn't. But only 29 percent of independent voters questioned feel she is qualified to serve as president, with 68 percent disagreeing. According to the poll, nine in 10 Democrats feel Palin is not qualified.
The poll's release comes one day before the release of Palin's book, "Going Rogue: An American Life."
"The perception that Palin is not qualified to be president puts her significantly behind two potential rivals for the GOP nomination in 2012 - Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
According to the survey, nearly half of all Americans think Romney is qualified to be president, with 43 percent feeling the same way about Huckabee. Among Republicans, Palin is still lagging other potential 2012 primary candidates: 63 percent of GOPers think that Romney and Huckabee are qualified, 9 points higher than the number that say the same of Palin.
"Palin has many strengths - recent CNN polls indicate that Americans believe that she is not a typical politician, that she cares about average Americans, and that she is honest and trustworthy," says Holland. "But the perception that she is not qualified for the White House is her biggest Achilles heel."
An ABC News/Washington Post poll also released Monday indicates that 38 percent of Americans say Palin's qualified to serve as president, with six in 10 saying she's not qualified.
The CNN survey indicates that 67 percent of people questioned say that Clinton is qualified to serve in the Oval Office, 17 points higher than the 50 percent of Americans who think that Biden's qualified to take over as president.
Biden's low number may be attributable to negative feelings about the Obama/Biden administration rather than views of Biden personally.
"In the past, poll respondents who dislike an administration have sometimes taken it out on the vice president," say Holland. Polls from the late 1990s showed that Americans felt Al Gore was qualified to be president, but only if respondents were given the chance to say something negative about Gore that was unrelated to his qualifications, he adds. In the Bush administration, the number who thought Dick Cheney was qualified to be president dropped as the administration grew more unpopular. "Cheney's experience in office didn't change during that period - attitudes toward the Bush/Cheney administration did," he says.
Hillary Clinton also has the advantage of having been able to stay out of domestic policy debates, including health care, the economic stimulus, and other controversial matters, while adding almost daily to her experience in foreign policy, Holland adds, while Biden has been involved in the domestic policy disputes - "which might explain why some respondents were looking for a reason to say something negative about the veep."
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted November 13-15, with 1,014 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall sample.
If Friday the 13th is unlucky, then 2009 has been an unusually unlucky year. But your luck is about to change. Today is the last of three Friday the 13ths you'll have to endure this year.
The other two were in February and March. Such a rare triple-threat occurs only once every 11 years.
The origin of the link between bad luck and Friday the 13th is murky. The whole thing might date to Biblical times (the 13th guest at the Last Supper betrayed Jesus). By the Middle Ages, both Friday and the number 13 were considered bearers of bad fortune. In modern times, the superstition permeates society.
Here are five of our favorite Friday-the-13th facts:
1. Fear of Friday the 13th - one of the most popular myths in science - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.
2. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor and some airline terminals omit Gate 13.
3. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.
4. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12." Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.
5. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number - 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.
Pythagorean legacy
Meanwhile the belief that numbers are connected to life and physical things - called numerology - has a long history.
"You can trace it all the way from the followers of Pythagoras, whose maxim to describe the universe was 'all is number,'" says Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and author of "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved" (Simon & Schuster, 2005). Thinkers who studied under the famous Greek mathematician combined numbers in different ways to explain everything around them, Livio said.
In modern times, numerology has become a type of para-science, much like the meaningless predictions of astrology, scientists say.
"People are subconsciously drawn towards specific numbers, because they know that they need the experiences, attributes or lessons associated with them, that are contained within their potential," says professional numerologist Sonia Ducie. "Numerology can 'make sense' of an individual's life (health, career, relationships, situations and issues) by recognizing which number cycle they are in, and by giving them clarity."
However, mathematicians dismiss numerology, saying it lacks any scientific merit.
"I don't endorse this at all," Livio said, when asked to comment on the popularity of commercial numerology. Seemingly coincidental connections between numbers will always appear if you look hard enough, he said.
Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchorman, announced on the air that tonight's show would be his last on the cable news channel.
Dobbs, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, made his announcement during Wednesday's broadcast of "Lou Dobbs Tonight."
Dobbs' contract was not set to expire until the end of 2011, but CNN agreed to release him from his contract early.
"After nearly three decades anchoring an evening program on CNN, Lou Dobbs has decided to step away from his CNN anchor desk to focus on his role as a commentator and advocacy journalist on his daily radio talk show, as well as to pursue new avenues to contribute to the national discussion on important social, political and economic issues," said CNN in a written statement.
During Wednesday's broadcast, Dobbs suggested that he would remain involved in the civic discourse.
"Some leaders in the media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving," said Dobbs.
Related
"I'm considering a number of options and directions," he added.
Dobbs said he wanted to change the partisan nature of public discourse on "critically important" issues including the "growth of our middle class, the creation of more jobs, health care, immigration policy, the environment, climate change and our military involvement, of course, in Afghanistan and Iraq."
"Unfortunately, these issues are now defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion. I will be working diligently to change that as best I can," said Dobbs.
Dobbs added that he would strive to be a leader in the "national conversation" for "the important work of restoring inspiration to our great free society and our market economy."
When signing off the air just before 8:00 pm ET, Dobbs told his viewers that he would next "see them" on the radio.
Dobbs anchors a nationally syndicated financial news radio report, "The Lou Dobbs Financial Report," and he is the host of the national radio program, "The Lou Dobbs Show," which launched in March 2008. Dobbs' radio shows have more than 400 affiliates and reach nearly five million people weekly, according to CNN's media affairs office.
It now seems clear why the staff to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't want anyone to bring recording devices or cell phones to her speech Friday night.
Even news outlets like Politico -- which have prominently featured Dick Cheney's terror jeremiads -- would have been likely to lampoon her.
But the ban on recording devices didn't stop them. Politico says they bought three tickets to Palin's Wisconsin speech and then penned a write-up. Their review was somewhat grim, taking aim at Palin's frequent use of the words "bogus" and "awesome" and delivering a strange anecdote about dollar coins.
"Palin had remarks prepared but frequently wandered off-script to make a point, offering audience members a casual “awesome” or “bogus” in discussing otherwise weighty topics," Jonathan Martin wrote in his review. .
He quotes Palin as saying, “It is so bogus that society is sending a message right now and has been for probably the last 40 years that a woman isn’t strong enough or smart enough to be able to pursue an education, a career and her rights and still let her baby live.”
"Other Palin thoughstones included praise for the military, jeers for the "liberal media" and a general manner of speaking that often veered into rhetorical culs-de sac" he continued.
Palin didn't draw supporters to their feet: "While she drew applause during her remarks, Palin’s extemporaneous and frequently discursive style was such that she never truly roused a true-believing crowd as passionate about the issue at hand as she. Not once during her address did they rise to their feet."
They did stand at the end, however.
She then got a standing ovation from most of the crowd, but a few had begun to leave before she even finished and within seconds of her concluding, scores more got up and put on their jackets as they walked away.
In addition to the suggestion that government officials would consider hastening the death of the infirm or handicapped, she began her remarks with a puzzling commentary on the design of newly minted dollar coins.
Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.
“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”
She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”
The decision to put "IN GOD WE TRUST" on the edges of presidential dollar coins has received little attention from the press, but was reversed in 2007 before President Barack Obama took office. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) sponsored legislation to move the motto back to the front face of the coins.
"It is important that our national motto, 'In God We Trust,' is prominently displayed on all of our currency," Brownback said. "We should not relegate our heritage to the side."
Some of Palin's recent speeches have also received lackluster reviews. At a recent speech in Hong Kong (which also banned the press) some delegates purportedly "walked out in disgust".
Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California USA who became a darling among conservatives when she refused to support same-sex marriage during the Miss USA Pageant, went on Sean Hannity's show tonight to promote her book and confirm TMZ's report that she made some kind of sex tape when she was a teenager.
Making the tape was the "worst mistake of my life," Prejean repeatedly said. "I was all by myself. I was sending my boyfriend at the time, who I loved and cared about, you know, video of me. I was a teenager at the time and never did I ever think it would come out."
Prejean told Hannity that she is "taking total responsibility for it."
I've tried to make a change in the way I blog for the last few weeks. Sometimes I fail at this with spectacular results and go off on whoever is in my line of sight. Ie Apollo Dawn (apologies).
Yesterday I had a meltdown when I saw several blogs which were negative about Obama. It seemed overkill to me.
The way I reacted may have been over the top but it was heart felt and sincere. I was sickened by the whole blogging process and everyone who engaged in it.
My old ex enemy, Sioux of all people, emailed me with some encouraging words and helped me find center again.
I think all of us "old time bloggers" are sick of the dissension and negativity we find on the blogs lately. It would be easy to blame the newcomers but that's not the truth either. One things for sure, no one side is to blame any more than the other. And neither side can make a change for the better, alone.
What we all need to do is examine our own part in spreading the dissension on this blog site and do what we can to stop it. We need to remember that behind those avatars are real people with real feelings.
Use qualitative terms when dealing with issues. Some...In my opinion....mostly.....etc.
I think one of the reasons we fail to treat each other with respect is because we can't feel any commonality. We can't get past our political/religious differences to see the person behind the comments.
In an effort to get to know each other better, I want to open this blog to each of you so you can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable doing. Or nothing at all.
Me first.
The part of my house that I love the best is actually on the outside of the house, our back patio, where I spend 90% of my leisure time. I have a 20 year old porch swing which is large enough to lie down on with room to spare. I sit, recline or lie on this porch swing and read every evening.
There's a honey locust tree in the back yard which is a bird magnet. It's so peaceful and life affirming to watch this tree leaf out and turn colors as the months go by.
A legal standoff betwen Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA and pageant officials reportedly ended when a pageant lawyer played his trump care: a sex tape far more hard-core than the nude pictures which have previously scandalized her - and in which she had the starring role.
After being shown the hardcore home video - in which she apparenetly engages in a ............
I'm making a pledge to myself that I won't behave to him (or her) in the manner in which Obama has been treated by the far right since he's been elected.
I promise that I will never stoop that low.
The president is the leader of our country. He was elected by a majority of the people. Out of respect for that majority decision I wouldn't try to derail the president based on silly innuendos.
Because I respect this country and its freedoms, I won't distract the future president from doing the job that he was elected to do by spreading malicious lies.
A 20/20 news special recently confirmed that we have a large measure of control over our own levels of happiness -- at least 40 percent within our own control, according to researchers interviewed. Only 10 percent is circumstantial and about 40 to 50 percent is genetic. Most interesting is the notion that you can change your brain -- and your circumstances -- if you are committed to being happy. Here are four ways to get started.
Meditate to change brain patterns
Focus on the positive
Build Rewarding Relationships
Find your flow
Meditate: Neuroscience researchers report that our brains are just waiting to be transformed.
If you only sit quietyly for 30 minutes a day your brain will show noticeable changes in two weeks. If you are worried that you don't have 30 minutes to spare, try 10 minutes. Even sitting quietly for a short time will make a big difference. The point is, we need to rejuvenate ourselves. Meditation is one way to revitalize our energy.
Focus on the positive.
Have you heard the saying, “what you focus on expands?” It’s not just a bunch of fluff. Dr. Richard Davidson, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin studied Monks who dedicate their life to focusing on positive thoughts of compassion and kindness. Davidson said the monks’ happiness is “off the charts.”
Build rewarding relationships
Relationships are the biggest source of happiness at work and outside of work. One reason Denmark is the happiest place in the world is because their focus is on community. Ninety-two percent of Danes belong to some kind of a social club and guess what? The government pays for it! That’s a big contrast to most Americans I know who make excuses and say they are too busy to join in extra activities.
Relationships are what matter at work too. One of the people profiled on the 20/20 show was Sean Aiken, a guy who decided to try as many jobs as he could to find his bliss. Sean realized after working 52 jobs in 52 weeks, trying everything from dairy farming to stock trading, that it is not the work that matters; it’s who you work with that matters
Find your Flow
Some people find their flow in their life calling, others find it in some sort of activity. The flow is something you feel when you are totally absorbed and happy with the present moment.
I believe I have found my calling, and I’m pretty much in the flow while coaching, speaking or training. I’ve been meditating and studying the effect of positive thought for the last five years, but something was still missing. I finally figured it out. It was putting more fun into my life…things I like to do that have absolutely nothing to do with business.
At the end of 2007 I signed up for dance lessons. That’s right, I’m taking Cha Cha Cha and Salsa. The instructor, Alex, is someone I just love to have in my life so this fills the relationship bill too. I decided to take some ice skating lessons, too. Every time I visited a big city I saw people skating in the parks, I always wished I could join them. This year I decided to turn that longing into reality.
See? We really do have some control over our own happiness. We just have to remember that happiness isn’t about arriving at the destination it’s about enjoying the journey.
Ford surprises with $1B profit; sees profit in 2011
DEARBORN, Mich. – Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011.
The automaker said Monday earnings were fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the Cash for Clunkers program, which drew flocks of buyers to showrooms this summer. Ford's shares rose 68 cents, or 9.8 percent, to $7.68 in morning trading.
The latest results signal that Ford's turnaround is on more solid ground. The company lost more than $14.6 billion last year and hasn't posted a full-year profit since 2005. While it made a profit in the second quarter, that was mainly due to debt reductions that cut its interest payments.
The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop. But Ford said it cut costs by $1 billion during the quarter, accomplished through layoffs in North America and Europe, reduced pension and retiree health care costs and improvements in productivity and product development.
Chief financial officerLewis Booth said the company took in $1.3 billion more than it spent in the quarter, an improvement over its $1 billion cash burn in the second quarter.
"That's a huge deal," Booth said.
Ford's plan to create demand and get better prices for its products, coupled with cost cuts, gave the company confidence that it will make money in 2011, Booth said.
But Ford still faces obstacles in its turnaround. Last week, workers overwhelmingly rejected an agreement with the United Auto Workers that would have brought Ford's labor costs in line with rivals General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Workers objected to clauses limiting their right to strike and freezing entry-level wages, and felt the company was healthy enough and didn't need further concessions.
The rejected deal also would have changed rules so skilled tradesmen such as electricians and pipefitters work in teams and perform more than one task.
Rejection of the deal isn't likely to place Ford at an immediate cost disadvantage to its crosstown rivals because savings from the concessions are longer-term, said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Neither the company nor the UAW has released any cost savings numbers.
The third-quarter profit makes it extremely unlikely that the company will push to head back to the bargaining table before the current UAW contract expires in the fall of 2011, and union leaders also are unlikely to take another deal to the membership, Chaison said.
"I think the company has no credibility asking for concessions now, and I think the leadership is quite embarrased for making a case for concessions," he said.
It also won buyers; the fuel-efficient Ford Focus sedan and Ford Escape, a small SUV, were among the top five sellers under clunkers. Ford sales climbed 17 percent in August thanks to the program.
Ford also has benefited from consumer goodwill after it declined government bailout money and didn't go into bankruptcy over the summer as GM and Chrysler did. Ford grabbed sales from its rivals, posting the largest increase in market share of any automaker in September. Ford expects an overall gain in U.S. market share in 2009, a feat it hasn't accomplished since 1995.
In the book, Palin claims to have helped the fishermen, Alaska Natives and other individuals suing Exxon over spill damages prevail in their legal case.
