Wednesday, May 22, 2013
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t think so. What do you think?
There has been many a report of college grads taking menial jobs during the recent economic downturn. Yet others have moved back in with parents, unable to support themselves or pay off college loans. According to a story in The Daily Mail, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, famous for his nanny tactics with constituents by making laws restricting what he considers bad habits, is now suggesting that not everybody go to college. But does he have a point? The Daily Mail reported that Bloomberg, speaking on his weekly radio show on May 17, suggested that students who aren’t necessarily top of their class should rather go to trade school than take on an expensive college degree. His example, the Daily Mail reports, is the career of a plumber. "…
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Although last week was a tough one for the Obama administration, the president's popularity doesn’t seem to have been affected.
After scandals plagued the White House last week, this week began with yet another one. However, according to the Huffington Post, President Barack Obama appears to have weathered the storms relatively unscathed – at least according to a recent poll. The Huffington Post reported that the poll, from CNN and ORC International, found that 53 percent of Americans approve of the job the president is doing while 45 percent disapprove. This is the same as he was doing in the polls before the scandals hit. This recent poll was taken on May 17 and 18, and has a 3 percent margin of error, the Huffington Post reports. The scandals began when the White House faced continued scrutiny on Benghazi then expanded to news of the IRS unfairly targeting …
Monday, May 20, 2013
The federal government is proposing a drop to a .05 percent blood-alcohol level.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants to reduce deaths caused by drunken drivers, and one of its ideas is to change how states measure drunkenness. The board has proposed reducing the blood-alochol limit to .05 percent, down from the .08 percent states enforce now, according to Fox News. That limit could mean one drink for a lot of women, and two drinks for a lot of men. "Our goal is to get to zero deaths because each alcohol-impaired death is preventable," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said in the Fox story. Among those who oppose the idea: Groups that sell alcohol. "Moving from 0.08 to 0.05 would criminalize perfectly responsible behavior," American Beverage Institute Managing Director Sarah Longwell said in a statement quoted …
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Some legislators acknowledge the freebies can look bad, but they say the state's new ethics law will make it harder to mingle with constituents.
Georgia legislators who want to sit in the president's suite above the hedges at Sanford Stadium next year will have to pay their own way, thanks to ethics legislation signed by Gov. Nathan Deal last week. The law forbids elected officials from receiving gifts or event tickets exceeding $75. University System of Georgia lobbyists gave state and local lawmakers more than $14,000 in football tickets in 2012, the Athens Banner-Herald reports. The paper quotes state Sen. Bill Cowsert, whose district includes Athens, saying the football games have been a good way for him to mingle with his constitutents. “I think it’s really going to change things," Cowsert is quoted saying of the new ethics law. "I think it’s going to make it tougher for the …
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The agency apologized last week for automatically sending Tea Party and similar groups through multiple hoops before the 2012 election.
President Obama this week said efforts by IRS employees to target new conservative groups for extra scrutiny were "outrageous," echoing many administration critics who charged that the measures were politically motivated. "I have got no patience with it, I will not tolerate it, and we will make sure that we find out exactly what happened on this," Obama said in a news conference Monday. The Wall Street Journal reported that an Inspector General's report concludes there was widespread targeting of conservative-linked groups for aggressive questioning, but that no one outside the IRS was involved in establishing the practice. (The report was released Tuesday.) Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, an appointee of President George W. Bush…
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Politicians, Republicans especially, are scrambling for position to replace Saxby Chambliss.
Republican 10th District U.S. Rep. Paul Broun is running for Senate in 2014. So is Republican 1st District U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston. And Republican 11th District U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey. But Republican Tom Price, who represents the 6th District, announced Friday that he's not. Which might open the door for former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, a pal of Price's, who said in a statement last week that she'd end the suspense "in the very near future." Meanwhile, John Barrow, the only white Democrat from the Deep South in the U.S. House of Representatives, announced recently that he won't seek the seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Which might mean tough 2014 sledding for Democrats, who have yet to put forth a …
Monday, May 13, 2013
A database released by the federal government shows shocking price discrepancies.
How can a medical procedure that costs $7,000 at one hospital cost nearly $100,000 at the hospital down the street? Because patients don't know what anyone charges for anything. That might change soon. The federal government has released a database laying out charges for common medical procedures at hospitals across the country, The Huffington Post reports. Officials said they released the data to make hospitals more intelligent competitors and patients better informed consumers. The results are vexing: What's your reaction to the variation in health care prices? Will this information change how you seek health care? What should be done to improve medical pricing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
'Great Gatsby' is playing this weekend in Cumming.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Baz Luhrmann's take on "The Great Gatsby," which is at times more style than substance – just like like the novel's main character himself – say some critics. "The Great Gatsby" is rated PG-13 and runs two hours and 22 minutes. It is now playing at Movies 400, 415 Atlanta Road or AMC Avenue Forsyth 12, 350 Peachtree Parkway. For more theater information, show times and pricing, click the links above. Here's what else the critics are saying: Baz Luhrmann’s new film version of The Great Gatsby is stylish, slick, funny and entertaining—a bit detached at points, a bit overblown at others. That should be all that matters. — Jeremy Mathews, Paste Magazine Just because a film looks like it was dipped in 18-karat gold …
Friday, May 10, 2013
A Generation Y publication calls out Abercombie & Fitch for eschewing plus sizes.
Even as one metro Atlanta mall hosted a casting call for plus size models last weekend, a popular retailer was discouraging larger women from dropping in. Elite Daily, "The Voice of Generation-Y," recently pointed out that mall staple Ambercrombie & Fitch doesn't carry XL or XXL sizes of women's clothing, stopping at size 10 for women's pants. Competitors such as H&M and American Eagle go much larger. The article points to a 2006 interview with CEO Mike Jeffries in Salon.com: Is it cool to just go after the "cool" kids? Does your pants size make you cool? What do you tell your children? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Google-owned video sharing site reportedly is planning to charge for some premium content. Will you pay to press play?
YouTube, the popular video sharing site that also is the world's second-leading search engine, reportedly is about to charge for some content. Mashable.com has reported that Google-owned YouTube this week will begin charging for "specialist" channels to help finance production of content such as television shows and films. The service will include up to 50 YouTube channels, and subscriptions will start as low a $1.99 per month, the Financial Times reported. A YouTube spokesperson told Mashable, "We have nothing to announce at this time, but we're looking into creating a subscription platform that could bring even more great content to YouTube for our users to enjoy and provide our creators with another vehicle to generate revenue from …
Sharon Swanepoel
1:08 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
I have three plumbers in my family - two who went to college and one who did it through an apprenticeship - all three graduated from Loganville High School about 10 or 11 years ago. The one who did it through an apprenticeship is further up the chain, makes more money and certainly has no college loans to pay off - in fact he was paid while he learned and is still learning in an effort to move … more ›