text:
SEOUL, South Korea — Investigators have traced a coordinated cyberattack that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers at six South Korean banks and media companies to a Chinese Internet Protocol address, but it was not yet clear who orchestrated the attack, authorities in Seoul said today.
The discovery did not erase suspicions that North Korea was to blame. IP addresses are unique to each computer connected to the Internet, but they can easily be manipulated by hackers operating anywhere in the world.
The investigation into Wednesday's attack could take weeks.
By today, only one of the six targets, Shinhan Bank, was back online and operating regularly. It could be next week before the other companies have fully recovered.
North Korea has threatened Seoul and Washington in recent days over U.N. sanctions imposed for its Feb. 12 nuclear test, and over ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills. It also threatened revenge after blaming Seoul and Washington for an Internet shutdown that disrupted its own network last week.
North Korea "will never remain a passive onlooker to the enemies' cyberattacks," state media said last week in a commentary. "The U.S. and its allies should be held wholly accountable for the ensuing consequences."
Wednesday's cyberattack did not affect South Korea's government, military or infrastructure, and there were no initial reports that customers' bank records were compromised. But it disabled scores of cash machines across the country, disrupting commerce in this tech-savvy, Internet-dependent country, and renewed questions about South Korea's Internet security and vulnerability to hackers.
The attack disabled some 32,000 computers at broadcasters YTN, MBC and KBS, as well as three banks. Many of the computers were still down today, but the broadcasters said their programming was never affected, and all ATMs were back online except for those at 16 branches belonging to Nonghyup Bank.
The attack may also have extended to the United States. The website of the U.S.-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea also was hacked, with reports on satellite imagery of North Korean prison camps and policy recommendations to the U.S. government deleted from the site, according to executive director Greg Scarlatoiu.
The initial findings from South Korean investigators were based on results from an investigation into one target, Nonghyup Bank. The investigation is continuing into the shutdown at the five other firms.
A malicious code that spread through the Nonghyup server was traced to an IP address in China, said Cho Kyeong-sik, a spokesman for the state-run Korea Communications Commission. Regulators said all six attacks appeared to come from "a single organization."
Experts said that despite the IP address, signs do not point to Chinese hackers. Chinese hacking, either from Beijing's cyber-warfare command or freelance hackers, tends to be aimed at collecting intelligence and intellectual property — not simply at disrupting commerce.
China is home to a sizable North Korean community, both North Koreans working in the neighboring nation and Chinese citizens of ethnic ancestry who consider North Korea their motherland.
If the attack was in fact carried out by North Korea, it may be a warning to South Korea that Pyongyang is capable of breaching its computer networks with relative ease.
Seoul's National Intelligence Services believes Pyongyang was behind six cyberattacks between 2009 and 2012.
South Korean investigators say they have no proof that North Korea was behind the attack.
However, the outage took place as Pyongyang warned Seoul against holding joint military drills with the U.S. that it considers rehearsals for an invasion.
North Korea also has threatened retaliation for U.N. sanctions imposed for the nuclear test and for its launch of a long-range rocket in December. Pyongyang blames Seoul and Washington for leading the push to punish the North.
Today, in a vein of typical bellicose rhetoric, North Korea's military threatened to attack American naval bases in Japan and an air base in Guam, where nuclear-capable B-52 bombers took off earlier this week to join the drills in South Korea.
Previous hacking attacks on commercial ventures have compromised the personal data of millions of customers. Past malware attacks also disabled access to government websites and destroyed files on personal computers.
Last year, North Korea threatened to attack several South Korean news outlets, including KBC and MBC, for reports critical of Pyongyang's activities.
In recent days, North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea — a government agency that often targets South Koreans in its push to draw attention to reunification — warned Seoul's "reptile media" that the North was prepared to conduct a "sophisticated strike" if its negative coverage continued.


text:
UTSA basketball fans
Women's basketball welcome-back party is Saturday
By Brian Hernandez
UTSA Associate Sports Information Director
(Jan. 18, 2007)--The UTSA women's basketball team invites UTSA students, faculty, staff, season ticket holders and Roadrunner Club members to its 7 p.m. home game against I-35 rival Texas State on Saturday, Jan. 20.
Today's headlines
- La Prensa Foundation is newest member of UTSA Lone Star Society
- UTSA alumna Jordan Kaufmann wins $50K for new stent-graft start-up
- UTSA begins new way-finding sign installation this summer at Main Campus
- USA Today: UTSA long jumper Tyler Williamson rescues three-year-old boy
Article tools
Before the contest, the UTSA Athletics Marketing Department will provide free hot chocolate, coffee and cookies beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Roadrunner Club hospitality Area for everyone attending the game.
There also will be a raffle for two lower-level tickets to a future San Antonio Spurs game (face value $200). Everyone in attendance will be eligible for the drawing and the winner must be in attendance at halftime to receive the free tickets. To be eligible to win, individuals must sign up for the drawing in the Roadrunner hospitality area before halftime.
Also at the half, will be the Cingular "Roadrunner Idol" Contest with singing performances by talented UTSA students.
Along with these activities, the Marketing Department will unveil its newest addition to the Roadrunner family.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Nothing wrong with cleaning your mags often. They are the weakest part of the pistol's feeding cycle, so it makes sense to clean them a lot. We clean our magazines all the time over here.
That said, I clean my Glock magazines about once a year. Then again, I only clean my Glocks about twice a year.


text:
Swiftie Friends
I don't bite I swear!! I love Taylor you love Taylor so add me!
o_O~~Swifties, I need your help for Taylor Swift...~Is it possible to get you to join the companion and write a letter to Taylor Swift to help her decide on when she would do the movie "Love Story"... "Bringing her "Love Story" fairy tale to life..." and be sure to pass it on to your friends... NOTE: write to either one...
Her fan mail address is here:
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift Entertainment
242 West Main Street
Hendersonville, TN 37075
Below is Taylor Swift record label,
Big Machine Label Group
1219 16th Avenue South,
Nashville, TN 37212
http://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/~~~Big reason why, how often do we all have a chance to see a true fairy tale As well as, have some one like Taylor Swift find her Prince Charming... In Taylor Swift Bio, she speaks of reading A fairy tale as A little girl meeting her Prince Charming and hoping he's everything she ever wanted. But later as Taylor Swift grow up and she realized their was a story their... But only wrote the song "Love story" which was the fairy tale and late ROBERT KING turn the "Love Story" song into a feature film script bringing to life that "Love Story". Which Taylor Swift always wanted to be in. A true fairy tale all of her life. And so her fairy tale can come to life and she can find her Prince Charming as easy as Getting Taylor Swift to decide to pick up the phone and call ROBERT KING. Note for Taylor Swift ONLY~please call ROBERT KING [email protected] (909) 620-3552 is Temp. ONLY…!


text:
A female under the influence of the sleep-aid Ambien. This state is generally characterized by unsteady walking, semi-coherent ramblings, and bizarre behaviors.
My girlfriend is an Ambienne. Last night she popped a pill, and next thing I know she's falling down the stairs mumbling about how if I truly loved, her I'd give her dog my extra kidney.
by Colin Kealey April 17, 2008


text:
Wasson community urges school administration to keep school open
School District 11 considering closing Wasson, 2 other elementary schools
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Students, parents and staff are not ready to retire Wasson High School. That's what School District 11 leaders learned from a public forum Wednesday on a proposal that could close the school and two other elementary schools next year.
According to district administration, Wasson is on the chopping block because of low enrollment. The plan is to combine a number of alternative schools and programs onto the Wasson campus and distribute their students across Palmer, Mitchell, Doherty and Coronado high schools.
Many who came out for the informational meeting disagree with the plan.
"All we're talking about and what we're saying is going in one ear and out the other," said James Case, a parent with two teens at the school. "They're not taking into consideration our feelings as parents for our kids."
Others agree that the school board had their mind made up on closing Wasson before a task force looking into the idea was ever formed.
"No other high school was targeted in this manner," wrote one concerned parent who wishes to remain anonymous. "How is it they started with a proposal and then developed information that would justify what they proposed? This is nothing more than reverse engineering."
Another concern to arise from the public comment section is that some believe the school is trying to save money and putting that ahead of student achievement. The feeling is that once the Wasson students are spread across the school district other high schools may be too crowded.
Case said his son never felt excited about going to school until he found the right fit at Wasson.
"Through all the problems that we've had in the past with other schools and him not wanting to go to school and being bullied, there's none of that here," said Case.
Bates and Lincoln elementary schools may also close as part of this plan.
A final decision is expected February 6.


text:
ihategroupon wrote:Wouldn't want tons of little pencil shavings flying around everywhere.
Nah, not a chance.
One word.
Killer shirt.
Re: Lovebirds
only one I voted for this derby.
gcrows wrote:This is very cute
Thank you!
Totally agree! Hilarious!
earzthompson wrote:THIS IS EASILY THE BEST DESIGN ON HERE. hilarious.
ihategroupon wrote:Designer - Can you explain what this shirt says in your opinion please? The intention of the shirt. Just curious because I'm not clear.
I'm not getting it either. I'm very curious too.
Re: The Next Door Neighbor
Hehehe, like it :-D
bnbsouthworth wrote:I've seen the one where bread goes with butter instead of jelly, and where peanut butter goes with chocolate over jelly. And an older one where peanut butter goes with banana over jelly. Poor jelly!
But butter and peanut butter? Never heard of that one.
Its not butter and peanut butter. Clearly its butter and Peanut.
None of those characters actually want the Iron throne though. Ned wants to go home and Robb is King in the North. Tyrion just doesnt want Joffrey or Cersie on it.
ksnyder0817 wrote:Love this, if it had Daenerys it would be perfect.
She and her dragons need to be in the shadows, watching with evil grins.
I'm not sure who the blond man is, maybe Jaime? My idea would be to replace him with Cersei and have Ned tripped to the ground off to the side. Or maybe one of the Baratheon brothers in the race?
Re: [url=http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=63196]Lewis
I laughed!
Great idea. Now why don't you dress it up with some 3D rendering or something?
I believe the artist is trying to say that gender and sex are not dichotomies.
Re: The Wretched Platypus
The design placement seems a little low to me, but it still gets my vote. It made me laugh.
Re: Clown Cleanup
Haha! Well, you can definetly say that this one is on theme.
Re: Three's A Crowd... Sometimes.
My 2nd shirt design :D
It's nerdy, so maybe noone will get it xD
Re: Game of Chairs
Still trying to figure out how this is on topic. Are two of them going to share the throne? Right now it feels like king of the hill and not three's a crowd. I guess it has three people so it'll probably be okay.
Re: Sibling Rivalry
I love the design here- it's really cute. Great job!
Re: Sign Language
Experiencing communication problems?
Paradox55 wrote:More of an "odd man out" concept to me- not really seeing "Three's a Crowd"
Yeah, I'm not seeing the right theme but I like the design
yellowhaze wrote:I love the design here- it's really cute. Great job!
Reminds me a little of Pee Wee's bike!
Re: Chopsticks
LOVE IT, I so hope this prints!!
Re: Thing 3
Best shirt i have seen in forever!
I guess it's a good thing your HP/GOB shirt got rejected. This one is great! Sometimes simple is best.
deedlebee wrote:Cute concept. My only gripe is that Lewis and Clark are their last names, not first. I do think Steve is funny, but to history folk, it might bug them a bit.
It will only bug them if they either don't understand the concept or have no sense of humor...
No love for the NES Satellite... So what if there was only 10 games for it!
anamya wrote:Got my vote because it's the first one to make me laugh out loud in a good while.
Same here. Wasn't going to even look at it, but glad I did. When I started laughing my cats looked at me as if I were losing my mind. Definite winner--I hope. GMV
Re: One in Every Group
ok maybe I'm just an animal nerd but what is the ferret in the middle holding? because of the size I thought rat, but the shape of the ears and head make it look like a guinea pig... but guinea pigs dont have tails..... ugh- maybe I just need sleep lol!
Caddywompus wrote:Three Video Game consoles and only two ports on this TV. Let the final battle of the Console Wars begin.
but the Wii is using the wrong cord for the type of port shown. I actually like the concept tho.
Re: Hey Cupcake!
This is not just cute, it's uber cute.
Re: Not part of our club
Hahaha... Brilliant :D
Re: Duck, Duck, Goose
I love the expressions. Nice job.
jtweetyone wrote:but the Wii is using the wrong cord for the type of port shown. I actually like the concept tho.
That would explain his facial expression as he stares at the end of his cord realizing that no matter how hard he tries he can't win this battle.
Re: In The Pale Moonlight v2
Maybe it's too subtle? A bat, a robin, and a penguin...
Well Woot, you got what you asked for. Was it all you hoped it would be?
Cute idea, but maybe try hand lettering instead of Comic Sans. In fact, it probably doesn't need text at all. I think I would get the joke without it.
ciaralee wrote:Why??
I have this nasty feeling that the copyright for winnie the pooh is held by Disney.
plainyoghurt wrote:I have this nasty feeling that the copyright for winnie the pooh is held by Disney.
I think they meant why does this image exist? What are you trying to say here? Why would Pooh grind up his buddy in the garbage disposal, and how does this relate to the theme?
View All →


text:
I find this a little bit disingenuous:
Slate: One of the places where 24 and the real world have intersected most powerfully is on the question of torture. On 24, torture is regularly used in interrogation. Some critics believe that 24 actually plays to our desire to witness torture, that it is, in some sense, "torture porn." How do you make sense of and justify the role of torture in the show?
Loceff: I absolutely do not believe that the show is, in any sense, torture porn. This is something we talk about a lot. Torture is of no interest to us as torture, and we're not anxious to show it, nor do we want to watch it. We don't want to go to any level of great detail in depicting it, and there are many times when we will pull back from the original idea because it seems too much. I think its real use in the show, aside from its narrative function, is to create dramatic conflict, conflict not just between two people but within characters as well. If you look at any given torture scene in the show, you'll find that there's something in it that shows someone's distaste or disgust. And Jack Bauer's decision to torture people for information in the past has cost him, because it's shown other people just exactly what he's capable of. Jack himself is appalled by what he feels he has to do, but he's also convinced he has to do it. That is a real dramatic conflict.
Slate: One of the familiar critiques of using torture as an interrogation technique is that it doesn't work. On 24 it tends to be very effective.
Loceff: I don't know that torture works, and we don't write it because we think it works. So, I don't think any of us are trying to make a statement about the efficacy of it one way or the other.
Now, I am not a regular follower of the show. I watched some of the first two seasons and followed along with the TWOP recaps for the first three. So it is possible that I am missing some important nuance in the show. However, the writer's description does not seem to match what actually happens on the show. The writer claims that torture is used sparingly and is not something they like to show. They further claim that it has had a deleterious effect upon Jack. If either is the case, then why does it happen so bloody often on the show, and why does Bauer never seem to suffer for his decisions to employ torture with the same frequency that Pizza Delivery drivers exceed the speed limit? The writers are simply not credible when they claim that they take the use of torture in the show seriously. It appears to be nothing more than a plot device they fall back upon either out of laziness or ideological bent.
The comments about the not trying to make a statement about the effectiveness of torture may be true, but whether they intend to or not, they show torture in a good light. Generally speaking, the tortured people always have information and the torture is effective in a very, very short period of time. If 24 aspired to any kind of veracity, six or seven episodes would be dedicated to showing Jack torturing someone to get information. We would see water boarding, electrocution, and vicious beatings for hours on end. And then we would have two episodes dedicated to showing Jack run off with the information the torture produced, only to discover that he had been lied to and sent on a wild goose chase. The last episode would show the terrorists smiling as Jack fails to foil the plot because he wasted time on the torture. But torture almost always works on the show, and it is almost always shown as quick and effective. Whether they intend to or not, they are showing torture as an acceptable, useful, even desirable option.
If they don't want the show to be torture porn, they need to work a lot harder than they have to date.


text:
June 14, 2014; noon – 4 pm
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1964-65 World's Fair, join us for weekends in June, July and August to learn about the different technologies and advancements made during the past 50 years on land, in space and in the ocean.
Features of Land: Innovation and Exploration
Free/On-going Activities:
- Learn about composting and the merits of worms from NYSCI Explainers
- Make a terrarium from recycled water bottles to learn about soil and planting
- DiY camera phone tripods with Maker Space
- Make your own science journal from recycled DVD cases
- Help NYSCI to create a new app and participate in current research with SciPlay
- Videos of land exploration and citizen science projects (you can join)
Animated origami with Sibel Deren Guler from Invent-abling.
Make your origami creations move with simple motors.
Sessions: 1, 2, 3 pm ($10/$8-for members). Recommended for 6 years and older. Under 12 years must be accompanied by an adult.
Registration required on site.
Carnivorous Plant workshops with Jonathan Kui of Midtown Carnivores.
Participants will observe and learn about different types of carnivorous plants and pot up their own carnivorous plant seeds to take home.
Sessions: 1:30, 3:30pm (FREE). Registration required on site.


text: As some of you may be aware, I was contemplating going back to the black mesh grille. Having the different grille on for 2 weeks now I can say that I think I made the right decision - what do you think? VS I feel the black looks much better because It really ties everything together. Looks like it sits higher w/o the running boards as well. This year Last Year


text:
This is for the co-worker that helps with everything. He is organized, efficient and he is a good little bitch. He is a princess that goes the extra mile. He is also the one that can call in drunk to work and looks at naughty porn while on the clock. These are the kind of workers that we need in America. MORE THUMBELINAS!
by Chancey Pants January 06, 2010


text: Thanks Goran! I'm really looking forward to working with the hive, but I won't be able to have a beehouse or shelter built before next spring. I'll need to learn-as-I-go for managing it. But a challenge is always good learning! I have 7 warrés and 1 Kenya TBH and they have different management techniques, so why not add another hive style into the mix?! It's always good to learn more about styles of beekeeping!


text:
About One Book, Everybody Reads
"One Book, Everybody Reads" is the library's annual community-wide reading and book discussion program, funded by the Friends of the Wilmette Public Library. The library selects one book that is the focus of the program, which takes place each spring. In order to facilitate the experience for the community, the library offers numerous copies of the book in various formats for patron use.
We are thrilled to announce that the 2012 "One Book, Everybody Reads" selection is Ann Patchett's newest novel, STATE OF WONDER.
Local residents are encouraged to read the selected title and participate in a series of events that explore the book and its themes. The various programs are designed to create opportunities for shared enjoyment of the selected book as well as enhance an individual's personal reading experience. The culminating event takes place when the author visits Wilmette to discuss his or her book.
The "One Book, Everybody Reads" program began in 2006. Previous selected titles were:
- 2006: Before You Know Kindness, by Chris Bohjalian
- 2007: A Hope in the Unseen, by Ron Suskind
- 2008: Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan
- 2009: The Man Who Loved China, by Simon Winchester
- 2010: Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
- 2011: Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
Funding for "One Book, Everybody Reads" is made possible by Friends of the Wilmette Public Library.
Text for the My Account section


text:
Great pics. Here's my favorite AB moment.
Originally Posted by jomo
That paint chip in the upper right hand corner reminds me of an upside down reversed Buffalo Bills logo. It's like an ink spot test!
Couldnt figure out what that was. Two amazing things aboutt Bradshaw in that clip.
1 look at his eyes still looking at the field while getting hit so hard it knocked the stripe off his helmet. Warrior
2 During that same, stripe stripping hit.....High and Tight.
Originally Posted by TheShouldersOf
i stand in the few that was never a fan of Bradshaw, no disrespect intended,
Agreed. Great guy, no doubt. Just was never my favorite Giant. Hopefully he can stay healthy next season and have a good one.
Wilson better come prepared to go all out next season.
Originally Posted by JayMas9
He was a pretty darn fast RB before years and years of foot problems. Not Wilson style fast, but watch that Buffalo game his rookie year, guy definitely used to have some wheels.
I was lucky enough to be at that game. He could run, but was never that break away guy. It was the tough yards after contact that I think will be his Giant legacy.
Originally Posted by Rudyy
Sorry. I don't know what the question mark means.
Forum Rules


text:
Institute of Texan Cultures Asian Festival
Call for volunteers: 22nd annual Asian Festival
By James M. Benavides
Public Affairs Specialist
(Jan. 5, 2009)--Volunteers are needed to work at the 22nd annual Asian Festival, Saturday, Jan. 31 on the grounds of UTSA's Institute of Texan Cultures.
Volunteers are needed to assist in key areas including setup and takedown, traffic control, visitor information, loading and assisting in the command center. Volunteers are asked to work a four-hour shift to receive complimentary admission to the festival.
Today's headlines
- La Prensa Foundation is newest member of UTSA Lone Star Society
- UTSA alumna Jordan Kaufmann wins $50K for new stent-graft start-up
- UTSA begins new way-finding sign installation this summer at Main Campus
- USA Today: UTSA long jumper Tyler Williamson rescues three-year-old boy
Article tools
A mandatory orientation session will be 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 21 at the ITC auditorium, 801 S. Bowie St. at Durango. Credentials including wristbands, parking permits, and rules and regulations will be issued at orientation. Volunteers are asked to sign up for a shift before the orientation.
The Year of the Ox celebration will host more than 40 participant organizations representing countries and cultural groups from the Silk Road to the Pacific Rim. Festival highlights include authentic ethnic foods, dance, martial arts, crafts, games, demonstrations and vendors.
To request a sign-up sheet, contact the ITC Special Events office at (210) 458-2216 or visit the Institute of Texan Cultures Web site and select the Asian Festival link.
For groups or companies that would like to provide volunteers, contact the volunteer coordinator at (210) 458-2275.


text:
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.
Love for All, Hatred for None.
Khuddam at Registration Counter
MTA Bangladesh at Work
Br Hasan Hakeem with Members of Khuddam
Homeo Dispensary at Service
Br Hasan Hakeemwith National Ameer, Bangladesh
Ansarullah at Work
Nawab Mansoor Ahmad Khan with Khuddams
Press Committee at Work
Copyright © by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. All rights reserved.


text:
Cameron's appearance before the liaison committee - Summary
That was not a particularly exciting hearing (although it was probably more interesting than the first 45 minutes of Francois Hollands's press conference - before he started taking questions.) But, if you're interested in David Cameron's views on energy, it was certainly worth watching. He was relying very heavily on his brief when talking about violence against women and girls, but he sounded genuinely engaged when talking about energy, and shale gas in particular, and he defended his policies with clarity and some passion.
Here are the main points.
• Cameron said he was in favour of people living near shale gas wells receiving cash payments in compensation. Yesterday Number 10 highlighted three measures that will be used to reward communities affected by fracking. One involves communities getting 1% of revenues. Today Cameron said he favoured some of that money going direct to families.
The communities should get 1% of the revenue over the life of that well. And the experts tell me that if you think of how long a well can last, that would be between £7m and £10m. That's a serious amount of money going into the local community. We have to make the decision: how much to the districts, how much to the counties? And, crucially, whether because of the disturbance in the early part a well being dug, whether there should be cash payments to householders. And I'm quite in favour of that - saying to people there's going to be this small well drilling for shale gas, and in order to make up for any inconvenience, here is a cash payment.
• He said that shale could provide Britain with its gas needs for 30 years.
In terms of the scale of it, if we recovered 7% from Bowland shale, which is an average recovery rate, that would supply the UK for 30 years with our gas needs.
• He claimed that some critics of fracking were "religiously opposed to it" because they did not want to see any carbon-based fuel succeed. They were not the same as those critics who have valid concerns about the practicalities of fracking, he said, implying that he did not object to the latter, but he did to the former.
There are some people who are opposing shale because they simply can't bear the thought of another carbon-based fuel being used in our energy mix. I think that is irrational because it's surely better for us to be extracting shale safely from our country rather than paying a large price for it being imported from around the world ...
I think why some people are so religiously opposed to it is because they just don't want to see any carbon-based energy work, but I don't think that's hopeful.
• He said he was wary about adopting a decarbonisation target because he did not want to take that decision before seeing whether carbon capture and storage can be made to work successfully. This was one of the big differences between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, he said.
• He said he would ensure that women's refuges run by local authorities would be exempt from benefit cap rules, as other refuges already are.
• He said Britain would ratify the Istanbul Convention on violence against women when the anti-social behaviour bill, which criminalises forced marriage, became law.
• He said Britain would "absolutely lead the charge" to promote equality for women around the world during 2014. He argued that the country would use the "moral authority" which it has gained by meeting the United Nations aid target of 0.7% of national income to push for progress on issues ranging from sexual violence to women's property rights and female genital mutilation.
• He described Owen Paterson as a "dynamo of a Defra [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] secretary" because of his work promoting the rural economy.
• Cameron hinted that the modern slavery bill would be included in the Queen's Speech. And he said 12 Years A Slave was on his list of films he is planning to see.
That's all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
During the hearing Graham Allen tweeted a picture of David Cameron.
I don't think I've ever seen an MP sitting on a committee do that before.
Sir Alan Beith wraps up the session.
I'll post a summary shortly.
Cameron says he has avoided politics for an hour and a half.
But he cannot resist saying that Ed Miliband has promised to freeze energy bills, regardless of what happens to the global price of energy. That is unrealistic, he says.
The only person underming confidence in the energy industry now is "one E Miliband", he says.
Andrew Miller, the Labour chair of the science committee, goes next.
Cameron lists the measures that will benefit communities that host a shale gas well.
One involves communities getting a 1% share of the revenues. He says he is in favour of cash payments to householders as part of this.
Q: Have you considered other measures to promote this? Cuadrilla have talked about a community trust approach.
Cameron says he is open to ideas.
But it was important to get the "quantum of money" sorted out first, he says.
Q: Some argue that our link with Europe would mean gas prices not going down (because it would be sold in a European market). Do you think gas prices would go down?
Cameron says in the US gas prices are now a third of what they were. That has benefited households, and industry too.
Some of the people opposed to fracking are also those who say gas prices are going to rise and rise.
Cameron says some people are opposing shale because they are worried about the practicalities.
But some are opposing it because they cannot bear the idea of another carbon fuel being in the energy mix. They ignore the possibility of carbon capture and storage. They are "religiously" opposed to carbon, he says.
David TC Davies, the Conservative chair of the Welsh affairs committee, goes next.
Q: What are we doing to get fracking off the ground?
Cameron says he is a supporter. We would be making a great mistake if we did not exploit it, he says.
If we can recover 7% of gas from Bowland shale, which is a reasonable estimate, that would supply Britain's gas needs for 30 years.
Cameron says 4,000 barrels of oil a day are extracted from Lincolnshire and Derbyshire. The community supports that.
The firm involves wants to move into shale gas.
We should allow the industry to develop within the rules already in place, he says.
Q: The government is only making good progress on 16% of its environment targets, according to one analysis.
Cameron says the government has made good progress on environmental issues. But it must press on.
In Owen Paterson, we have a "dynamo" of an environment secretary in terms of expanding the rural economy, he says.
I missed this soundbite gem earlier.
Anne McIntosh, the Conservative chair of the environment committee, goes next.
Q: What is the government doing to make Britain more resilient to bad weather?
Cameron says the government has been looking at risk, and putting in place protective measures.
We need to keep looking at resilience issues, Cameron says.
Every time Cobra looks at this, it finds infrastructure issues that have not been nailed down, he says.
Cameron says the international climate change talks present an opportunity. There are some trends on our side, like China's move away from coal.
But there is not a lot for the EU and the UK to do. It is more for other countries to make commitments.
Cameron says the two parties in the coalition have different policy positions.
They have had to work out "the right balance" on renewables, and on green levies.
He is cautious about a decarbonisation target. The Lib Dems are more gung-ho.
Q: Was Clegg wrong when he said before Christmas that the green consensus was falling away?
Cameron jokes that the deputy prime minister is "never wrong". But he would not put it like that. It is right that parties have been having a debate about rolling back the green levies. He is glad he initiated that debate.
Q: Excess winter deaths are up 29%. Will we ever eliminate fuel poverty?
Cameron says the government will introduce a target on this later in the year.
As he understands it, the two select committees do not have an agreed definition of fuel poverty.
His preference is for a definition that links fuel poverty with poverty.
But, on both definitions, fuel poverty has gone down.
Joan Walley, the Labour chair of the environmental audit committee, goes next.
Q: You mentioned climate change. But you also told PMQs that you wanted to roll back green levies.
Cameron says he actually said he wanted to roll back the cost of green levies. That is what has been done. It has been on a carbon-neutral basis.
Energy bills had reached "a level of unacceptability", he said. The government was right to get the cost of bills down.
But it did not sacrifice important initiatives, like home insulation.
As you improve the housing stock, it gets harder to make insulation improvements.
James Arbuthnot goes next.
Q: There is a serious risk of a cyber-attacking damaging the national grid. Are you confident that we have sufficient resilience in place?
Cameron says he is confident that we have a process for identifying risk, and deciding what should be done.
We have a national risk register, he says.
He is not "sucking up" to members present he says (in a sign that he probably is). But the work that committees like Arbuthnot's do has been very useful.
Q: Your comments raised hopes that you will agree with what the climate change committee says about carbon budgets.
Cameron says he supports the carbon budgeting process. But his "nervousness" about being too specific is to do with how carbon capture and storage develops. That is why is is wary of decarbonisation targets, and taking carbon out of the electricity generation process.
Yeo says he warmly welcomed Cameron's declaration that climate change could be linked to the bad weather.
Q: Was the response of some distribution companies to the bad weather inadequate?
Cameron says at PMQs he was saying there are more extreme weather events. He thought the scientists thought there was a link between that and climate change. He thought that was not a remarkable thing to say, and was surprised when it attracted controversy. But then scientists came out and said he was right.
Ed Davey, the energy secretary, has been asked to review how operators respond when people are cut off for bad weather.
Some firms have paid more than they are obliged to in compensation, he says.
Cameron says there are not many industries where you can say to a firm, 'Come and invest now, and I'll tell you what money you will get for the next 20 years'.
There is also now all-party agreement on nuclear, he says.
Q: There is concern about energy prices. Why has the government focused on green levies, which only account for 10% of costs, not transmission costs, which account for 20% of costs and are run by monopolies?
Cameron says he is not just focused on green levies. He wants more people to switch supplier. The number of people switching in November was remarkable.
The government is looking at transmission costs. The £50 reduction from fuel bills includes some money coming from transmission costs.
The government has done something to cut the costs of bills. The energy companies obligation (ECO) has been tackled.
Cameron questioned about energy
They are now switching to energy.
Tim Yeo, the Conservative chair of the energy committee, goes next.
Q: Are you worried that the lights could be going off after your term in office?
Cameron says the idea that energy investment has been on hold is not true. He says he has a list of energy investments with him. Investors know what the framework will be for the next 20 years. There is no country in the world offering such long-term security, he says.
He says he hosted a summit for energy companies. He thinks Britain now has a really good framework for sorting out the country's energy needs for the future.
Dame Anne Begg, the Labour chair of the work and pensions committee, goes next.
Q: Women's refuges are important. Some are exempt from the benefits cap, but most do not. Will you look at this?
Cameron says the government promised to protect refuges that were exempt.
Q: Local authority ones are not exempt.
Cameron says ministers have promised to extend that protection to residences that are not formally exempt. New regulations are due.
Q: Lord Freud promised that a year ago. But nothing has happened yet.
Cameron says he will look into this.
Allen says learning at school about proper relationships is an important way of tacking domestic violence. The Commons came close to changing sex education rules in 2010, he says.
Q: Should we look at this again?
Cameron says he agrees that sex and relationship education is important. But he does not want to open up the whole argument about what should be in sex and relationship education. He does not want to open up the whole Pandora's box.
Graham Allen, the Labour chair of the political and constitutional reform committee, goes next.
Q: What can government do give people more training about how to deal with domestic violence.
Cameron says the situation has been transformed. But there is always more work to be done.
Q: Can we do more on prevention? Are the resources there? And who is in the lead?
Cameron says the Home Office is in the lead.
Introducing Clare's law was a big breakthrough, he says.
Domestic violence protection orders have been very helpful.
And there has been an awareness campaign. It has been good, he says.
Q: Is there a mechanism to see if the awareness campaign has worked?
That's a good question, says Cameron. The key is to improve the quality of data relating to reporting cases and prosecutions.
Rape is a specific crime, he says.
Domestic violence is harder to quantify, because you are dealing with a different range of offences. He says he has spoken to Theresa May about getting better data on this.
Over in Paris Francois Hollande spoke for 45 minutes before taking questions from the reporters. That explains this tweet.
Hywel Francis, the Labour chair of the joint committee on human rights, goes next.
He asks about the Council of Europe's convention against violence against women.
Cameron says Britain was already complying with most of its measures. Some people were wary about criminalising forced marriage. But Cameron pushed for that. There are relevant provisions in the anti-social behaviour bill. As soon as that becomes law, Britain will be able to ratify the convention.
Vaz says he went to see 12 Years a Slave recently. Cameron says the film is on his list to see.
Q: What will the modern slavery bill achieve?
Cameron says walking past an exhibition in Trafalgar Square that Emma Thomson was involved in opened his eyes to the problem. It showed what the experience of people being trafficked was like.
There is all-party agreement for the bill, he says. But he is not allowed to say what will be in the Queen's Speech [ie, the bill will be in it].
Q: Some 60% of children who get trafficked go missing from local authority care.
Cameron says there will be a statutory duty on local authorities to report potential victims. That might cover this.
Vaz says his committee would like Michael Gove, the education secretary, to write to schools once a year telling them to look out for the signs of forced marriage.
Cameron says schools should be doing this in relation to forced marriage.
But he says he does not want schools to be getting letters on separate issues every day of the week. He will think about what Vaz says.
Q: And what about making it easier for children to give evidence in court?
Cameron says the government has made progress on enabling children to give evidence by video.
Keith Vaz, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, goes next.
Q: The Met commissioner says there has to be a shake-up of the system. Do we need to engage with the diaspora community to root this out?
Cameron agrees.
Why aren't people coming forward? Cultural sensitivities, and people not wanting to give evidence, Cameron says.
Q: There are not enough black and Asian people at high levels in the police helping this.
Cameron says that is part of it.
If you compare this with forced marriage, which is a not dissimilar issue, that also involves engaging with the communities.
Q: Do you agree that we need more prosecutions for child abuse?
Yes, says Cameron. He has followed Operation Bullfinch in Oxfordshire.
Q: Do we need better data?
Cameron says central government should draw together information about what needs to change.
Sir Malcolm Bruce goes next.
Q: It is estimated that 20,000 girls are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). It is illegal. But there have been no prosecutions. Why?
Cameron says he understands that six cases are being considered for prosecution.
His understanding is that the problem is getting people to come forward.
Q: This constitutes child abuse. And often it is women perpetrating it against women.
Cameron says if there is more than can be done in terms of education and training - that would be vital.
If the question is about whether the government is doing enough, he thinks the answer is yes.
The government has commissioned a new study into its prevalence. It will be ready in March.
Q: Do you agree that, unless we deal with it here, we do not have the credibility to address this abroad.
Cameron agrees.
But the scale of the problem abroad is quite different.
In Egypt, FGM is practiced on 90% of women. That is 27m women.
Q: What is being done about sexual harassment in the armed forces?
Cameron says the government looks at the evidence. The number of complaints has fallen.
But there is more work to be done.
He says he is taking a personal interest in the idea of having an ombudsman. The British Legion are interested in this. The armed forces have raised concerns about the chain of command.
Sexual harassment and bullying are wrong, he says. They should be driven out of every aspect of our national life, including the armed forces.
James Arbuthnot, the Conservative chair of the defence committee, goes next.
Q: Is this [ie, tackling VAWG] a role for the armed forces?
Yes, says Cameron. But you should not ask them to do too much.
Q: Have you discussed this with the chief of the defence staff?
In general terms, says Cameron. But not specifically.
Cameron questioned about violence against women and girls
They are starting again now.
Sir Alan Beith, the Lib Dem chair of the Commons justice committee, is chairing the hearing.
Sir Malcom Bruce, the Lib Dem chair of the international development committee, is asking the questions.
Q: My committee recommended that tackling VAWG (violence against women and girls) should be a priority in Afghanistan. What is happening? And our committee said the status of women in the country two or three years after British withdrawal would be a test of whether the mission succeeded.
Cameron says the best measure of success is whether the threat from terrorism has been tackled.
The first test must be a test of security.
But if there are not girls going to school - that would be a bad outcome.
Q: Societies that treat women with respect are less violent.
Cameron says he agrees with that. That is why Britain should be leading the charge to tackle violence against women.
Q: Who leads on this issue at the national security council?
Justine Greening, in relation to aid matters, says Cameron. But William Hague takes a strong interest in this issue too.
I missed the first two minutes of the hearing because I had a problem with my TV feed. But, according to Twitter, this is what Cameron said.
Then they went to vote.
Nice pun from Sky's Anwar Tambe
The session should have started by now. But a vote has just been called in the House of Commons, and so I presume they will wait for 15 minutes to allow members of the committee to vote.
(I say I presume, because I'm relying on the Parliament TV feed and it has not started showing the committee yet.)
In the live TV stakes David Cameron will be up against Francois Hollande, the French president, who is giving the press conference where he is expected to be questioned about his affair. It's no contest. No wonder Downing Street are not planning to waste a good story. (See 3.39pm.)
Hollande started about 15 minutes ago. My colleague Jon Henley is covering it on a live blog. Hollande is still on his opening statement, and we have not heard a word about his scooter or the croissants.
You learn something new every day. Today, for me, it's the existence of the #VAWG hashtag.
Cameron's evidence to the Commons liaison committee
David Cameron is giving evidence to the Commons liaison committee at 4pm.
The session will last for 90 minutes and it will cover two themes: violence against women and girls, and energy policy.
The committee has put out a more detailed list of the topics it wants to cover.
Violence against women and girls
- International development and action to tackle violence against women and girls
- Preventing sexual violence in conflict
- Sexual harassment in the armed forces
- Female genital mutilation – nationally and internationally
- Child sexual exploitation
- Human trafficking/modern day slavery
- UK implementation of international agreements
- Domestic violence
- Sex education and the role of schools
- Housing and the benefits system
Energy policy and environmental priorities
- Energy security and blackouts
- Investor confidence
- The risks posed by electro-magnetic pulses
- Energy subsidies and fuel poverty
- Environmental priorities
- Shale gas
- Community engagement and scientific advice
Cameron's aides are playing down the prospect of Cameron using the occasion to make a newsy announcement.
That means, if we are going to get a story, members of the committee are going to have to ask some sharp questions. Readers who have followed these hearings in the past will know that, in this regard, it has a mixed record ...
Here's a politics afternoon reading list.
• Jon Lansman at Left Futures complains about the lack of media coverage of yesterday's poverty inquiry debate in parliament.
Politicians may be held in low esteem by just about everybody outside the Westminster bubble, but that does not account for this contemptuous sidelining of Parliament in the news coverage of Britain's media. This was an instance in which Parliament was seeking to hold the executive to account on a central plank of its programme. The debate included strong criticism not only from Labour MPs such as Michael Meacher, David Winnick, Steve Rotherham, Katy Clark and Chris Williamson but Tories Jeremy Lefroy and Sir Peter Bottomley, and Lib Dem John Hemming. Those voting for the motion included DUP MPs Nigel Dodds, Dr William McCrea, David Simpson, Independent (former Unionist) Sylvia Hermon, SDLP MPs Mark Durkan and Margaret Ritchie, SNP MPs Angus MacNeil, and Dr Eilidh Whiteford, Lib Dems Mike Crockart, John Hemming, John Leech, Greg Mulholland, Sir Andrew Stunell, Adrian Sanders, and Tories Philip Hollobone, Jeremy Lefroy and David Nuttall.
• Peter Kellner says that the public vastly exaggerates the extent to which migrants claim benefits and that this level of ignorance creates problems for public policy.
These exaggerated views of the scale of the problem do not necessarily negate the case for a two-year or five-year ban. One can want to stop welfare tourism even if few people would be affected. However, the gulf between perception and reality raises two problems.
The first is that it is unhealthy for public debate to be so ill-informed – and for politicians (of all parties) to shy away from confronting such widespread popular misconceptions. And it affects the whole of the debate about immigration debate, not just welfare tourism. As I reported in a previous blog [November 25] most people think a) immigration in recent years has been rising when it has, in truth, fallen; and b) that immigration has damaged our economy when serious economists calculate that we would be poorer without the people who have settled here.
Secondly, it is as certain as anything in politics can be that the coming three-month ban will make hardly any difference to the number of people coming to Britain. By promising a radical solution to a non-problem, ministers are riding for a fall: a policy that might well be objectively successful (if the three-month is affectively implemented) could end up deepening public disenchantment (if the flow of arrivals continues unabated because so few people are affected).
Last week, the BBC broadcast an excellent programme by Nick Robinson, called 'The truth about immigration'. Part of its premise was that many journalists and politicians downplayed the problems caused by immigration in the past. Today, the danger is the opposite: a widespread public perception, confirmed by our latest poll, that immigrants are undermining our economy and abusing our welfare system in huge numbers.
• James Landale at the BBC assess the five factions that comprise the group of 95 Tories saying parliament should have the right to veto EU laws.
The bottom line is that the Tory truce over Europe appears all but over. The prime minister's promise a year ago of an in-out referendum in 2017 on a reformed EU united his party around a process but not a policy.
And it is around policy that the fractures are emerging.
The Financial Times (subscription) says the Tories are challenging Ed Miliband to explain how he would ensure that "the social security system rewards work and contribution", as he proposed in his Daily Telegraph article.
Here's an extract from the FT story.
"They oppose every single welfare cut and their new idea seems to be to spend more on welfare," said one aide to George Osborne, the Tory chancellor. "The alternative would be to cut benefits elsewhere in the system, which their party wouldn't support."
Mr Miliband's comments, which also referred to "reforming finance, skills and wages", appear to revive an idea that Labour raised nearly a year ago but which has not yet been fleshed out in detail ...
An aide to Iain Duncan Smith, the welfare secretary, said the policy did not sound compatible with Labour's support for a welfare spending cap: "This sounds like more borrowing and more taxes to pay for more spending on benefits," she said.
Back to Ed Miliband's Telegraph article.
The Times's Ann Treneman poses this question.
And, by coincidence, Andrew Harrop has posted rather a good answer on the Fabian Society website. Here's an extract.
It's well known that in Britain, 'middle' means different things to different people. There is the true middle – the median of the income distribution – which equates to a disposable income of £22,200 per year for a couple without children. But the imagined middle stretches way beyond and is encapsulated in the everyday British notion of 'middle class': a couple at the 85th percentile of the income distribution have a disposable income of £39,200, which is no fortune for two earners.
But for Miliband, the key point is that the fortunes of these two 'middles' have been closely aligned. The first graph shows that since the economic crisis people at the 85thpercentile terms have lost more of their disposable incomes than those at the median, both in cash and percentage terms. It's true that a 'quite rich' 85th percentile household was typically able to cushion the blow much better, because more of their spending was discretionary. But that doesn't mean they didn't suffer a real hit to their standard of living.
A forthcoming Fabian report will show that both before and during the economic crisis the fortunes of the 'true middle' and the 'quite rich' were pretty closely aligned: the 90:50 measure of inequality has been pretty steady. It is the 'very rich' who have done very much better than everyone else.
Lunchtime summary
• Inflation unexpectedly fell in December, returning to the Bank of England's 2% target for the first time in four years, the Office for National Statistics has revealed. As the Guardian reports, a smaller rise in food prices compared with a year earlier offset a rise in petrol prices and the well-publicised hikes in gas and electricity bills. High-street discounting in the weeks before Christmas also helped lower the inflation rate, economists said, with toys and computer game prices falling at a faster rate last month.The surprise fall drove the consumer prices index to its lowest level since November 2009, when it was 1.9%, the ONS reported. Inflation has fallen sharply since June's high of 2.9%, and economists had expected it to remain unchanged last month at November's 2.1% level.
• Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, has told MPs that a new IT platform for army recruitment is to be built at a cost of £47.7m. As the Press Association reports, the Ministry of Defence has taken up an option with contractor Capita to have a new system built because the existing one is causing too many problems. Workaround solutions will cost about £1ma month until the new system is up and running in 2015, Hammond said as he responded to an urgent question in the Commons. He told MPs the alternative system, known as Atlas, would have cost about £4m in any event.
• David Cameron has has ordered an investigation into an MP's claim that the Thatcher government "colluded" with India on the deadly raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.
• A leading member of Office for Budget Responsibility has said that reducing net migration below 100,000, which is David Cameron's target, could increase public sector net debt by as much as 20% of GDP over a 50-year period. This would be equivalent to £300bn at today's prices. As the Press Association reports, the OBR was giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee. Robert Chote, the OBR chairman, said the OBR did not not produce a prediction for the impact of net migration falling below 100,000 on GDP because it relies on Office for National Statistics forecasts of population size, which are currently based on annual inflows of 200,000, 140,000 or zero. But Professor Stephen Nickell, one of the three members of the OBR's budget responsibility committee (the body that runs the OBR), told the committee that a projection roughly halfway between those for the 140,000 and zero levels "would not be too far off" the correct figure. The OBR's Fiscal Sustainability Report, produced last year, predicts that public sector net debt will stand at just under 100% of GDP by 2063 if net migration continues at 140,000 a year, but will reach as much as 140% of GDP if it is reduced to zero - indicating that Prof Nickell believes that achieving Mr Cameron's target could increase the UK's state debt by around 20% of GDP over 50 years. And Chote told the committee that the impact of immigration tended to be positive.
Essentially speaking, inward migrants are more likely to be of working age than the population in general. They arrive after some other country has picked up the expense of educating them and in some cases - though not all cases - they leave the country again before you get to the point at which they are most expensive, in terms of pensions, healthcare and long-term care. In terms of the fiscal position, that is what drives the fact that higher net inward migration over this time horizon does tend to produce a more beneficial picture.
• Labour has blamed the coalition's NHS reforms for a surge in the use of temporary locum doctors in A&E wards at the cost of £83m a year.
• Sir David Higgins, the new chairman of HS2, has pledged to deliver the high-speed rail project more cheaply.
The Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke has just appeared on the Daily Politics wearing a onesie.
He says that if he can raise £5,000 for Martin House, a hospice for children and young people, he will wear it in the division lobby in the Commons (but not in the chamber itself.)
You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here.
As for the rest of the papers, here's the PoliticsHome list of top 10 must-reads, here's the ConservativeHome round-up of today's politics stories in the papers and here's the New Statesman's list of top 10 comment articles.
And here are four articles I found particularly interesting.
• Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times (subscription) says David Cameron's Europe speech from last year has failed to achieve its aims.
Downing Street's three objectives [for Cameron's EU speech] were to pacify Tory MPs, sap the momentum of the fringe UK Independence party and put the troublesome subject of Europe to sleep until the general election in 2015. On all scores, it failed.
Eurosceptic MPs did what they always do: win a concession they pretend is "final" before coming back for more. Backbenchers who said the referendum speech would satiate them have since hounded Mr Cameron to "guarantee" it takes place in the next parliament by legislating for it in this one. Downing Street initially resisted this constitutional nonsense before, again, capitulating under duress. The House of Lords is now voting on a bill to that effect.
At the same time, the prime minister has taken delivery of a letter signed by about 100 backbench Tories asking for a parliamentary veto over European regulations. As EU membership is defined by acquiescence to the primacy of European law, this means a third of his MPs and half of his backbenchers are asking Mr Cameron for "Brexit", before his vaunted renegotiation of the terms of membership has even begun. Again, the signatories include people who said the referendum pledge would mollify them a year ago. Historians will decide whether deceit or chronic amnesia explains their behaviour.
• John Rentoul in the Independent says the demand from 95 Tory MPs for parliament to have a veto on EU laws is unrealism on stilts.
Robert Conquest's Third Law is one of my favourites. It holds that the simplest way to explain the behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies. That is, indeed, the only way in which we can make sense of the 95 Conservative MPs who have signed a letter to their own Prime Minister asking him to do the impossible, with the implication that he is a chump and soft touch if he fails.
It is as if Peter Mandelson drafted the letter, in which the MPs pledge their undying loyalty to David Cameron if he should give them (a) the Moon on a stick, (b) a unicorn each, and (c) a parliamentary "veto over current and future EU laws". William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, went a slightly paler shade of deathly blue and murmured something about having to be realistic. After that, the Prime Minister hoped it would all go away. It is only a letter, after all. That is the constitutional equivalent of commenting below the line on internet articles: it is not as if it actually affects anything. It is not like an official report of the European Scrutiny Committee (ESC), the committee of the House of Commons that examines EU law.
• Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times (subscription) says there is a case for changing EU rules on migrant benefits.
It is time for the Brussels theologians to acknowledge that some of the "truths" they hold to be self-evident are far from universally accepted across Europe. The idea that a national government should not discriminate between its own citizens and those of other EU member states is seen as fundamental in Brussels. But in much of the EU, it still seems second nature to feel a bit more solidarity with your own citizens than with other Europeans. You can see that idea at work – not just in debates about welfare but also in the deep reluctance of countries such as Germany or the Netherlands to use their taxpayers' money to bail out nations in southern Europe.
The enlargement of the EU and the free movement of people are both fine ideas. But, taken together, they have changed the nature of the union. A pragmatic pro-European should acknowledge that, when circumstances alter, democratic systems adapt. Changes to the welfare rules – allowing countries more scope to give priority to their own citizens – would make it easier to win the more important argument for open borders. So why not?
• Rachel Sylvester in the Times (paywall) says Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have a different approach to the economy.
Although there is no great personality conflict between the two men at the top of the Labour Party now — as there was when Mr Blair and Mr Brown were in charge — there is a clear contrast in their approach. "Ed Balls is an economic technician, Ed Miliband is an economic ideologue," says one senior figure. "He wants to put in place a different sort of capitalism, just as Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s. Ed Balls thinks reinventing capitalism is not a substitute for explaining how you're going to run the economy. Ed Miliband thinks Ed Balls has an insufficient interest in ideas. They have a completely different mindset."
Back to Ed Miliband and the middle class. Here's Rachel Sylvester's take on Miliband's strategy in her Times column today (paywall).
On Friday, the Labour leader will address this potentially fatal flaw, with a major speech on the economy. Designed as a counter-point to George Osborne's promise of £25 billion more cuts, the speech will argue that, instead of additional austerity, the country needs a more responsible capitalism.
Mr Miliband will try to position himself as the champion of the middle classes who feel increasingly insecure — an interesting reinvention of the message that worked at successive elections for Mr Blair. His policy prescriptions are rather different to his predecessor's: in his view only changes to executive pay, housing, vocational education and the energy market will ensure that everyone benefits from the recovery, but he is convinced that circumstances have changed.
One strategist talks about the "iron clamp" on aspiration that many now feel. "New Labour was founded on the principle that we are all middle class," he says. "But it's a different middle class these days. In 1997 the middle class was all-conquering — it was all about how can we keep up with their desire for ever more conservatories? Now the middle classes feel threatened. The challenge is to give them the security they crave."
There is an urgent question in the Commons today at 12.30pm on the Ministry of Defence's recruitment IT system.
It has been triggered by this story in today's Times (paywall).
Millions of pounds — equivalent to the annual salary of 1,000 troops — has been wasted by the Army on a botched computer system that has damaged Britain's ability to recruit soldiers.
Leaked Ministry of Defence documents seen by The Times expose the scale of the IT fiasco at the heart of the Government's attempt to save money by laying off regular soldiers and hiring reservists.
The Recruitment Partnering Project, a £1.3 billion scheme intended to enable the Army to recruit online by bringing in Capita, the outsourcing giant, is almost two years behind schedule and will not be fully operational until April 2015 at the earliest. Up to £15.5 million has been spent building the flawed computer system behind the project, but it has gone so badly that Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, is considering spending a further £50 million on a new solution.
In addition, £1 million a month will be lost by the MoD until the problem is fixed in an embarrassing failure that has caused recruitment targets for regular soldiers and reservists to be missed, and applications to be lost in the system.
As promised below the line, here's a quote from the debate in the Commons last night on a backbench motion, tabled by the Labour MP Michael Meacher, calling for a commission of inquiry into the impact of the government's welfare reforms on the incidence of poverty. It is from Meacher's opening speech.
It is clear that something terrible is happening across the face of Britain. We are seeing the return of absolute poverty, which has not existed in this country since the Victorian age, more than a century ago. Absolute poverty is when people do not have the money to pay for even their most basic needs. The evidence of that is all around us. There are at least 345 food banks and, according to the Trussell Trust, emergency food aid was given to 350,000 households for at least three days in the last year. The Red Cross is setting up centres to help the destitute, just as it does in developing countries. A study that was published two months ago shows that even in prosperous areas of the country, such as London, more than a quarter of the population is living in poverty. This point is really scary: according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, for the first time, the number of people in working families who are living in poverty, at 6.7 million, is greater than the number of people in workless and retired families who are living in poverty, at 6.3 million ...
What impact have the so-called welfare reforms, which would more accurately be described as social security knock-backs, had on the families who have been affected? The best evidence comes from the Northern Housing Consortium, which carried out a survey three months ago of a representative sample of people living in social housing. It found that a third of families spent less than £20 a week on food and that the average spend on food per person per day was precisely £2.10. That is a third less than those families were able to afford three months before that. The proportion of households that had to make debt repayments of more than £40 a week had doubled and the average level of debt was £2,250.
Responding for the government, Mike Penning, the disabilities minister, said there was no need for an independent inquiry because the government already published "huge amounts of research" on the impact of its policies.
You can read the full debate on Hansard.
The motion was passed by 125 to votes to 2, a majority of 123. That is because government MPs decided to ignore Meacher's proposal, and stay away, instead of voting it down.
When the Commons agreed reforms that would allow more time for backbench motions to be debated, there was a hope that this would force the government to become more receptive to backbench concerns. At one stage ministers took the prospect of MPs voting against government policy quite seriously. (Look at what happened before the vote on banning circus animals in 2011.) But then the government decided that, since these votes have no legislative effect, it would be simpler just to ignore them.
While we're on the subject of Labour, it's worth having a look at what Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former spin doctor, has had to say about the party in a recent interview. The Fabian Society posted a summary on a blog yesterday, but the interview was actually conducted in November last year for the King's Review, a Cambridge University online magazine. Still, it's worth reading. The full text is here. And here are the main points.
• Campbell said he thought the 2015 election would result in a Labour-Lib Dem coalition, not a majority Labour government.
I think it will be Lab-Lib, I was right in 2010, I knew it was going to be a Tory-Liberal coalition, it's what the people wanted.
• He said the Ed Miliband had to do more to explain what "One Nation Labour" means.
One Nation is not established. It means to the public whatever the public wants it to mean. Whereas if you take New Labour, we launched that as a political concept and then we had three years to persuade the public that it meant something. What One Nation should mean, if the message was working, is that the Labour party is the political voice and the political body that will represent the many and not the few ...
One Nation worked last year for Ed's speech but it wasn't followed through. You have to follow through with hard-hitting policy; energy prices is a good One Nation. Whereas by 1994 to 1997 most people had a sense of what New Labour was.
• He said Miliband needed four more strong policies - "one on the economy, a couple on public services and one about cultural space" - in addition to the proposed energy price freeze.
• He said Labour should explore the idea of nationalising the railways. It was an idea "people can latch on to", he said.
The fact that nationalising railways is even on the agenda now suggests we are living in a different age. Following the crash a lot has changed.
(This is true. If any Labour minister had suggested nationlising the railways when Campbell was in Number 10, they would probably have been sacked.)
And here's Isabel Hardman at Coffee House on Ed Miliband's article. Here's an extract.
The most interesting thing about this pitch is that Miliband has chosen it as his opening gambit before a series of what are promised to be policy-rich speeches from the Labour leader and his colleagues over the next week or so. That Miliband wants to hook the interest of the middle classes before these policies emerge gives us some clue of what he's got planned.
And here is some reaction to the Ed Miliband article from Conservatives.
From Sajid Javid, the Treasury minister
From Gavin Barwell, MP for Croydon Central
Here is some Twitter comment from journalists on the Ed Miliband article.
The Telegraph's deputy editor Benedict Brogan has pronounced on Ed Miliband's "save the middle class" initiative.
Brogan gives Miliband credit for spotting a gap in the market.
He has calculated that middle class voters are beginning to wonder whether any politician will ever speak up for them. Dave's new year lunge has favoured the elderly and working poor, leaving a huge gap in the middle, into which Ed has strolled with his piece in today's Telegraph.
But he is not convinced that Miliband has much to offer.
Will it work? There's little sign of it. For a start it doesn't appear to have tickled the fancy of the Today producers, though let's see what the day brings in terms of media follow-ups. Then there's the problem of content: Mr Miliband talks of rescuing the middle class, but doesn't mention the issue that middle class voters will be most acutely aware of: the tax burden. This was his opportunity to admit that politicians of all stripes have allowed middle earners to be abused by the system. The number dragged into the 40p bracket rises every year, while their children face a whacking marginal tax grab from the Government's student loan sharking. The story of the middle class under Labour and now the Coalition is of a never-ending shake-down ... As a result Mr Miliband is likely to get some credit for short-term tactics, but not a lot of substance.
Inflation figures
Here is the key inflation news.
• The consumer prices index (CPI) grew by 2.0% in the year to December 2013, down from 2.1% in November.
In other words, it has hit its targe for the first time in four years.
You can read the Office for National Statistics news release here. And the ONS statistical bulletin, with the full details, is here (pdf).
George Eaton at the Staggers has a good "five points" commentary on the Ed Miliband article. Here's an extract.
As striking as what Miliband has to say, is what he doesn't. The Tories have long argued that the best way to increase living standards is to cut taxes, but Miliband makes no reference to the subject. Labour has pledged to reintroduce the 10p tax rate, funded by a mansion tax on property values over £2m, but this would only benefit basic rate taxpayers, rather than those paying the 40p rate (a significant number of Telegraph readers).
While Labour is likely to target tax rises on higher earners, through policies such as the reintroduction of the 50p rate, a mansion tax, an increased bank levy and a bankers' bonus tax, any refusal to rule out tax rises on "the middle class" (which, in the Telegraph's view, includes anyone earning up to £100,000, rather than merely the average wage of £26,000) will prompt the Tories to dust down their 1992 "tax bombshell" posters. But it's a guarantee Miliband is unlikely to be able to give, not least because, as he notes, Labour will have to devote much attention to "paying down the deficit".
The main political event in Westminster today will probably turn out to be David Cameron's appearance before the Commons liaison committee. For an hour and a half he will be taking questions about violence against women and girls, and energy policy.
But that does not start until 4pm. This morning there is time to take a look at reaction to Ed Miliband's article in the Daily Telegraph which the paper has summarised with the headline: "Only Labour can rebuild our middle class." The paper has splashed on it.
In truth, there is not much in the article that is very new. Miliband has been speaking about the "Promise of Britain" (our desire for our children to have a better life than us) for ages (here's a summary of a speech he gave with this title in 2011) and other speeches (like this one, from November last year) have set out in more detail his ideas about how the "squeezed middle" is not benefiting from growth, because the link between rising national prosperity and increased living standards has been broken. But in this article Miliband has managed to package his ideas in a way that make them attractive to a Conservative paper like the Telegraph. James Kirkup says in his Telegraph story that Miliband is using the article to try to "dismiss his 'Red Ed' image, insisting that his priority is for the middle class to grow and prosper".
(The strategy has worked, in the sense that the Telegraph has given Miliband a positive write-up. But I fear the new Telegraph-Labour love-in may be based in a misunderstanding. Does Miliband realise that the Telegraph's definition of middle class is not the same as his own? He is actually talking about people in the middle, whereas the Telegraph normally uses the phrase to refer to its own readers, and people who pay top rates of tax.)
Still, here is an extract from Miliband's article.
If there was a single undisputed truth in Britain in the decades after the Second World War, it was that there was going to be a rising middle class. This view was fuelled by a sense of optimism and fulfilled aspiration in our country: a belief that if our children worked hard they could have a better life than we enjoyed.
It was the Promise of Britain. And it is a promise that is in danger of being broken as we come to the end of a long period during which the middle class grew stronger and larger ...
No one saw this protracted squeeze on the middle coming. My own party's politics changed in the Nineties to surf a wave of aspirational self-confidence. But the task facing the next Labour government will be far different from the one we faced in 1997. Indeed, the greatest challenge for our generation is how to tackle a crisis in living standards that has now become a crisis of confidence for middle-class families.
And here is an extract from Nicholas Watt's Guardian story about it, explaining what Miliband is up to.
The article by the Labour leader, which comes before a major speech on the economy later this week, is designed to address two concerns among senior Miliband advisers. First, they fear there is a danger that Miliband's pledge to freeze energy prices at last year's Labour conference caught voters' attention so well that it risked giving the impression the party is just offering populist measures. Advisers felt the need to show that there is a substantive body of thought behind Miliband's plans to create a fairer economy.
Second, Miliband needed to show that while he has not abandoned the middle Britain voters championed by Tony Blair, he will do so on his own terms.
I will post some more reaction as I get it.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Inflation figures are released.
10am: Robert Chote, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.
11.30am: David Willetts, the universities minister, gives evidence to the Commons business committee about student loans.
2.45pm: Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee about the deaht of Mark Duggan.
4pm: David Cameron gives evidence to the Commons liaison committee.
Today I plan to be focusing on reaction to the Miliband article and on Cameron's liaison committee hearing. But, as usual, I will also be flagging up any breaking political news, posting summaries at lunchtime and in the afternoon with a round-up of all the day's developments and highlighting the most interesting political articles on the web.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow.


text:
Hey gang, first thanks to those who have welcomed me in on my intro post...much appreciated.
I'm still going back and forth on which Fett to build...ESB or ROTJ, I like certain elements of both. I've decided that the lid would be a good place to start....soooo I've started my search. I can't post in the Cargo Hold just yet (newbie restrictions?) so I thought I would post here.
I'd love some info on who to contact, websites to visit, things to look for, etc. I'd would like a pre-painted lid but I wouldn't mind doing one myself either, although I have painted before I'm sure my skills are no where up to par with some of the examples I've seen here on the DH....hence the search for a pre-painted lid.
I'm US Navy and deploying at the end of August so if I commission someone to build and paint it would be towards Feb that I would be able to take possission although I could make payment(s). :D
Thanks in advance for the help...the search continues!


text:
In recent years, representatives from 34 countries have been working to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is another example of the free-market fundamentalism that has created a global race-to-the-bottom that threatens the environment, families' livelihoods, human rights, and democracy. Once again, a sweeping "free trade" agreement is in the works that puts commercial interests above all other values.
1. The FTAA Expands a Proven Disaster
The FTAA is essentially an expansion of NAFTA. But NAFTA has proven to be a nightmare for working families and the environment. A look at NAFTA's legacy shows why these kinds of "free trade" agreements should be opposed. Working families suffer: In the US, more than 765,000 jobs have disappeared as a result of NAFTA. When these laid off workers find new jobs, they earn 23 percent less on average than at their previous employment. In Mexico, manufacturing wages fell 21 percent from 1995 to 1999, and have only started to recover. The percentage of Mexicans living in poverty has also grown since NAFTA went into effect. The environment suffers: In the maquiladora zones along the US-Mexico border, the increased pollution and the improper disposal of chemical wastes have dramatically raised rates of hepatitis and birth defects. NAFTA should be repealed, not expanded.
2. The Agreement Is Being Written Without Citizen Input
Despite repeated calls for the open and democratic development of trade policy, the FTAA negotiations have been conducted without citizen input. A process has been set up to solicit citizens' views, but there is no real mechanism to incorporate the public's concerns into the actual negotiations. The public has been given nothing more than a suggestion box. At the same time, however, hundreds of corporate representatives are advising the US negotiators and have advance access to the negotiating texts. While citizens are left in the dark, corporations are helping to write the rules for the FTAA.
3. The Agreement Will Undermine Labor Rights and Cause Further Job Loss
The NAFTA experience demonstrates how basic labor rights and the interests of working families are eroded by "free trade" agreements that lack enforceable labor protections. Corporations move high-paying jobs to countries with lower wages and bust unionization drives with threats to transfer production abroad. According to a Cornell University study, since NAFTA two-thirds of manufacturing and communications companies faced with union organizing campaigns threatened workers with moving their jobs abroad. This "race-to-the-bottom" will accelerate under the FTAA as corporations pit exploited workers in Mexico against even more desperate workers in countries such as Haiti and Guatemala. Already, Mexico is losing maquiladora jobs to countries with cheaper wages. In the last two years, some 280,000 jobs have vanished with the closure of more than 350 maquiladoras.
4. The Agreement Will Exacerbate Environmental Destruction
The export-driven growth model promoted by "free trade" agreements and the policies of the World Bank and the IMF have destroyed ecosystems around the world. Under this unsustainable model, many countries in the Global South cut down their forests, overfish their waters and exploit other natural resources to pay off foreign debts. Since NAFTA, 15 US wood product companies have set up operations in Mexico, and logging there has increased dramatically. In the Mexican state of Guerrero, 40 percent of the forests have been lost in the last eight years, and massive clear cutting has led to soil erosion and habitat destruction.
5. The Agreements Will Hurt Family Farmers
NAFTA has been a disaster for small farmers in the US and Mexico. By favoring the interests of agribusiness corporations over the needs of family farmers, NAFTA's model of export-oriented agriculture has slashed farmers' income. Between 1995 and 2000, the prices US farmers receive for corn declined 33 percent, 42 percent for wheat, and 34 percent for soybeans. No wonder that since NAFTA went into effect 33,000 small farmers in the US have gone out of businessÑmore than six times the pre-NAFTA rate. In Mexico, the price farmers receive for corn has plummeted 45 percent in three years as agribusiness giants dump their subsidized corn there. At least half a million farmers have left their land. The FTAA threatens to make this crisis worse by encouraging even more overproduction.
6. The Agreement Will Lead to Privatization of Essential Services
The FTAA is expected to force countries to privatize services such as education, health care, energy and water. Such privatization would especially harm working class communities and communities of color. In some countries, these privatizations are already occurring, and those least able to pay for vital services are the ones who suffer the most. When the Bolivian city of Cochabamba privatized its water utility, water rates increased 200 percent. In the ensuing protests, police shot and killed a 17-year-old student.
7. The Agreement Will Jeopardize Consumer and Environmental Protections
NAFTA includes unprecedented ways for corporations to attack our laws through so-called "investor-to-state" lawsuits. Such suits, established by NAFTA's Chapter 11, allow corporations to sue governments for compensation if they feel that any government action, including the enforcement of public health and safety laws, cuts into their profits. Already, Chapter 11 lawsuits have been used to repeal a Canadian law banning a chemical linked to nervous system damage, and to challenge California's phase-out of a gas additive, MTBE, that is poisoning the state's ground water. Negotiators want to include these anti-democratic lawsuits in the FTAA.
8. The Agreement Will Spread the Use of GMOs
US trade negotiators are trying use the FTAA to force other countries to accept the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). But environmental groups warn that these technologies haven't been adequately tested, and food security experts say GMOs could increase hunger in poor nations. Farmers have traditionally saved their seeds from year to year, but as multinational corporations patent GM seeds these farmers will be forced to pay for seeds, pushing them further into dependency.
9. The Agreement Will Increase Poverty and Inequality
"Free trade" is not working for the majority of the world. During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment-1960 to 1998-inequality worsened internationally and within countries. Without debt cancellation and rules to curtail rampant capital speculation, countries in the Global South will remain dominated by the Global North, inequality will increase, and the hope of achieving sustainable development will be farther off.
10. There Are Proven Alternatives
Policy makers and pundits often try to convince us that corporate globalization is inevitable. In fact, the current economic processes known as "globalization" have been defined and driven by a very small number of corporations. Now people around the world are creating an alternative grassroots globalization. Citizens' groups from across the Western Hemisphere have written an "Alternative Agreement for the Americas" that offers a picture of what socially responsible and environmentally sustainable trade would look like.


text: I have a problem that some of you should be able to help me with. I have a hive of honey bees inside the wall of my house. They should be easy to get out, they are actually underneath the siding. If anyone is interesting in having them, i would love to get an email from you. I live in Natchitoches, LA. My email is firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
The Rogues sale can be a catfight: T-shirts, Henleys, belts, messenger bags, sport coats — some of them first quality, others just mistakes — are flung onto tables, crammed into boxes, and hanging from the walls. Die-hard fashionistas think nothing of shoving you aside to get to that one perfect T bearing a historical image of a whale along with some stormy fragment of a Melville quote.
These aren't the distressed-vintage-novelty T-shirts the retail chains jumped all over a couple years back, but, rather, their inspiration. Alex Carleton, a native Cape Codder who spent time in Maine as a kid and now lives here year-round, cut his teeth at Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, and LL Bean before starting a company that showed them — and others — a new way.
More than five years ago, Carleton started Rogues Gallery, as he puts it, out of a sink and with nothing more than a MECA student in tow. Since then, his company has become an international sensation, with stores either completed or under way in New York City and Sweden. The brand's popularity has earned frequent mentions in the media, and, yes, that oft-recalled remark that Brad Pitt is a fan.
Surely you've seen the shirts. In the beginning, they were all recycled T-shirts, most bearing a nautical image — an anchor, ship, fish, sometimes a skull-and-crossbones — or perhaps just a snippet from some old tome. Where else would you see the word "doleful" but on a Rogues T-shirt?
But after a year or two, Carleton and company couldn't find enough used shirts to meet the demand, and he had to look for new material, finally locating what he needed "through some interesting traveling."
Today, Carleton and his Portland collaborative of 10 or so designers and manufacturers do more than just T-shirts. Rogues recently wrapped a photo shoot in Eastport for the 2008 spring collection, featuring all kinds of products for men, showcased by some very attractive models. (Neon will play into the collection, Carleton hints.) The pictures have been bound into very expensive trade catalogues that are now shopped to the finest boutiques around the world.
"I never saw (the T-shirt) as an item, I saw it as a culture, and I knew it would need to evolve beyond the T-shirt. I want to redefine a whole wardrobe," Carleton says.
So, what might you find this weekend? T-shirts, for sure, but maybe even pants, accessories, leather wares, bags, sport coats, outerwear, jewelry — the same stuff people in cities throughout the world might be paying $100 or more for, at a fraction of the price. Stop by, pick up a bargain, and thank Carleton and his rogues.
Table of Contents
Cover Archive
Masthead | Authors | Contact us
See all articles by:
All Slideshows


text:
REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. - January 9, 2004 - At the
company's annual gamers' day, Konami Digital Entertainment - America,
a division of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today revealed a
brand new PlayStation®2 3D action title, Nanobreaker .
Developed by Koji Igarashi, the famed producer behind the legendary
Castlevania series, Nanobreaker is poised to become another celebrated
Konami action game franchise.
Nanobreaker is a fast-paced 3D action game in which the main character
wields a powerful, shape-shifting Plasma Blade to defend mankind from
deadly nanomachines. Players will be able to slash through hordes of
enemy units and grab them for offensive attacks. In Nanobreaker 's
futuristic world, Nano technology was originally developed to enrich
humankind, but the nanomachines suddenly went awry. The machines began
to harvest the blood of humans and the iron of buildings in an effort
to construct an army of monster machines. It's up to the player to
combat this threat and save the world from apocalypse.
Nanobreaker features an advanced combo system for more skilled players
of hack-and-slash action and an easy mode for beginners. Nanobreaker
is scheduled for release in Fall 2004.


text:
Click here for this month's Web extras:
From "Looks better than it feels"
From "How far would you go to get your budget passed"
From "Minnesota bridge may last 500 years"
From "Money-making weed management"
From "Clearing the path of destruction"
From "The real risks of distracted driving"
From "Will 'drilling for dollars' save our infrastructure?"
Click here for Web extras from the 2011 Public Works Manual
Cover Story
From "LOOKS BETTER THAN IT FEELS"
For the second year in a row, raises are up and pay cuts are down. But salaries and benefits are nowhere near 2008 levels — and may never be.
WEB EXCLUSIVE: How does your salary compare?
This region-by-region analysis compares median salaries of survey respondents by population served.
This year, we drilled down even further to provide the median salary ranges (by population) for titles within their respective departments/areas of work. Word of warning: This method provided us with limited salary ranges from which to compute medians, which is why we also provided a more broad-based option for titles only.
Note: Not all titles, departments, etc. are represented due to lack of survey respondents from those areas.
2010 national wage estimates for state and local government occupations
To find more median and average salaries by industry and occupation, click here for state government jobs, here for local, or visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics' online Occupational Employment Statistics Query System.
Pension plans
The Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College offers access to a variety of state and local government pension data. To access the Public Plans Database, click here.
News & Views
From "HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO GET YOUR BUDGET PASSED"
In Illinois, The Newport Township Road District began the year with a hard-won $846,126 operating budget. Hard-won because Highway Commissioner Dan Dziekan had to take his funding request to court.
Has your department ever taken drastic measures to get funding? If so, click here to tell us about it!
Please include your contact info in case our editors have any questions. Your name will not be used with your response when tallying this survey.
News & Views
From "MINNESOTA BRIDGE MAY LAST 500 YEARS"
View a video of construction workers completing the two steel arches of Lowry Avenue Bridge in Hennepin County, Minn.
Grounds, Parks & Maintenance
From "MONEY-MAKING WEED MANAGEMENT"
In the Nebraska Panhandle, a majority of Scotts Bluff County's weed control income comes through spraying private land.
Articles to help you achieve effective, efficient vegetation management can be found at PUBLIC WORKS' Vegetation Management Resource Center, sponsored by DuPont Land Management. Stories are updated every month.
Emergency Management
From "CLEARING THE PATH OF DESTRUCTION"
- A waterless sweeper - and many volunteer hours - help clean up Joplin, Mo.
"Waterless Sweeping: The Future Is Not All Wet" By Mark Kinter, WorldSweeper.com
- Elgin Sweeper's waterless dust control technology
Fleet Management
From "THE REAL RISKS OF DISTRACTED DRIVING"
Research that'll help you decide what activities and devices to allow, and what to prohibit.
Texting while driving tops Consumer Reports' Jan. 2012 list of driver pet peeves.
Out of the Ordinary
From "WILL DRILLING FOR DOLLARS' SAVE OUR INFRASTRUCTURE"
How lifting the ban on domestic energy production could affect roads and bridges.
"Getting creative with road funding," by Conrad de Fiebre, transportation fellow with nonpartisan think tank MN2020.