If “beefy” or “curvy” describes you, here is a word of warning: United Airlines will begin aggressively enforcing a new policy that allows it to charge heavier passengers twice to fly. United will now implement new policies for passengers they deem to be overweight. Under the rules outlined by United, passengers who “are unable to fit into a single seat in the ticketed cabin; are unable to properly buckle the seatbelt using a single seatbelt extender; and/or are unable to put the seat’s armrests down when seated” will be denied boarding unless they purchase an extra seat.
Germany’s economy, the largest in Europe, taking a big nosedive in ’09. Not good.
Europe’s largest economy is poised to shrink nearly five percent this year, says the German Institute for Economic Research, the DIW. The downward spiral is essentially due to a 12.9 percent slump in exports, the institute says. The latest DIW report underscores how the recession has deepened in Germany in recent months and follows a series of forecast revisions made by other economic research institutes. Just four months ago, economists were predicting that the economy would contract by only 1.1 percent.
There has been a dramatic upswing in the number of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested for alcohol-related offenses in recent years, suggesting a growing drinking problem within the department, a county watchdog agency reported Wednesday. Last year, 70 sworn and civilian employees of the Sheriff’s Department were arrested. The majority of those arrests involved employees driving off-duty while under the influence of alcohol, according to an annual report produced by the county Office of Independent Review. In many cases, drunk deputies were carrying firearms at the time of their arrests.
While Fox News has celebrated the Taxpayer Tea Party rallies and MSNBC has denigrated them, the impetus of the movement – CNBC and specifically Rick Santelli, its inspiration – had been conspicuously quiet about it. But on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” April 15, co-host Joe Kernen asked Santelli what he thought of being a “cultural phenomenon.” That was the same show Santelli famously called out President Barack Obama for the unfairness of his housing bailout proposal on Feb. 19.
When President Obama gave his economics speech at Georgetown University on Tuesday, several folks noticed something was missing. That “something” was an ancient monogram — the letters IHS — that symbolizes the name of Jesus. It was missing from a wooden archway above the dais in Gaston Hall where the president delivered his 45-minute speech. The gold-lettered monogram appeared near a painting of three female figures — symbolizing morality, faith and patriotism — and decorative edging along the wall that spelled out the Jesuit motto “Ad majorem Dei gloriam”—”To the greater glory of God.” Georgetown was founded by the Jesuits.
Employee Free Choice Act (card check) more ominous that most people could have imagined.
The announcements by Senators Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that they intend to vote against cloture on the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has taken the legislation out of the headlines for now, as EFCA supporters seem short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate to end debate. But EFCA opponents should not become complacent. Organized labor and its allies in Congress continue pushing this bill, and they are not about to go quietly. And this legislation may be even more damaging than even its opponents think.
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The Maersk Alabama crew, minus Captain Richard Phillips, back on American soil.
A rainy morning outside the nation’s capital couldn’t dampen the spirits of the crew of the Maersk Alabama, who returned to the U.S. a week after their ordeal off the coast of Somalia. After they disembarked the charter flight from Kenya early Thursday, one crewman, carrying a child toward the terminal, shouted, “I’m happy to see my family.” Another exclaimed, “God bless America.”
President Barack Obama promised Americans his administration would rewrite the “monstrous” U.S. tax code as millions faced an annual deadline on Wednesday for filing federal income tax returns. Obama used Tax Day, a source of dread and frustration due to the welter of confusing paperwork required, to underscore his efforts to cut taxes for many Americans in the midst of the worst economic crisis in decades. “We know that tax relief must be joined with fiscal discipline,” Obama told reporters as he met several families at the White House.
THE top suits and some of the on-air talent at CNBC were recently ordered to a top-secret meeting with General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker to discuss whether they’ve turned into the President Obama-bashing network, Page Six has learned. “It was an intensive, three-hour dinner at 30 Rock which Zucker himself was behind,” a source familiar with the powwow told us. “There was a long discussion about whether CNBC has become too conservative and is beating up on Obama too much. There’s great concern that CNBC is now the anti-Obama network. The whole meeting was really kind of creepy.”
Coalition hoping to end tax free internet sales. Of course it’s all about the children.
If a little-known but influential alliance of state politicians, large retailers, and tax collectors have their way, the days of tax-free Internet shopping may be nearly over. A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Congress as early as Monday would rewrite the ground rules for mail order and Internet sales by eliminating what its supporters view as a “loophole” that, in many cases, allows Americans to shop over the Internet without paying sales taxes. Currently, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors aren’t always required to pay sales taxes at the time of purchase. Californians buying books from Amazon.com or cameras from Manhattan’s B&H Photo, for example, won’t pay sales taxes at checkout time that they would if shopping at a local mall.