A woman who allegedly intended to artificially inseminate her wife with her brother's semen has been charged with domestic assault and battery. I don't want to know how she got it.
Pittsfield police responded to a call shortly before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the city's Morningside neighborhood, where the assault allegedly occurred. Stephanie K. Lighten, 26, was released on personal recognizance after denying the allegations in Central Berkshire District Court Wednesday morning.
Jennifer A. Lighten, 33, told police that Stephanie Lighten, her wife, was "all liquored up" there's a shock
when she returned to their Lincoln Street apartment, where the defendant then allegedly tried to use a syringe to inseminate her, according to a police report.
Jennifer told investigating officers that Stephanie "has been talking about trying to impregnate (her) for some time," police said. I'm just guessing here but do these two have 'issues'?
According to a report by Pittsfield Police Officer Kipp D. Steinman: "Jennifer said that Stephanie had a 'turkey baster and her brother's semen in a sealed container.' Jennifer said she told Stephanie that she didn't want to get pregnant." The device was actually a large syringe with a catheter tip, police said, and it was still in its original package when officers confiscated the item.
That's allegedly when Stephanie threw Jennifer on the couch, grabbed at her clothes and threatened to impregnate her, police said. Jennifer broke free, ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Stephanie "then broke the bathroom door down," police said, hurting her wrist in the process.
When Stephanie went to retrieve an ice pack from the freezer, Jennifer bolted from the apartment and attempted to get away in the couple's sport utility vehicle, police said. Bet it was Lesbaru
As Jennifer pulled away from the scene, Stephanie "jumped on the side of their vehicle, swung the door open and made (Jennifer) stop," Steinman said.
According to Officer John Bassi, a witness at the scene claimed Stephanie "was hanging on the SUV door handle, trying to get into the car." Amber Hunt told Bassi that Stephanie nearly caused an accident when the vehicle narrowly missed hitting a tree in the front yard of Hunt's Spring Street home.
Police arrested Stephanie Lighten near the intersection of Spring and Curtis streets in Morningside. Police also confiscated the container of semen and some aluminum foil, which was originally used to hold the semen. Nicholas Lighten, Stephanie Lighten's brother, was the donor, according to police.
Detective Thomas H. Harrington said Jennifer Lighten declined "to go forward with charges of assault with intent to rape" because she did not believe "Stephanie was going to sexually assault her with the syringe." However, Harrington informed the alleged victim that attempted rape charges could be filed if she changes her mind.
Stephanie Lighten was represented by attorney Thomas J. Donahue Jr. at Wednesday's arraignment. Judge Rita S. Koenigs ordered Lighten to "refrain from abuse" and to return to court for an April 29 pretrial hearing.
#3
Even in clinical settings, first attempts at this sort of thing are rarely successful. I recommend they forego the baster, and after an appropriate warm up session with memberless middleman Stefanie, bring brother directly into the process to finish the task.
#5
After gay marriages come gay divorces. You know, the only gay divorce I want to hear about involves Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/14/2009 13:09 Comments ||
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#6
Isn't one the husband? They can't both be wives.
Which puts law enforcement in a bind because they usually with great laziness perp walk the genetic male to the squad car without regard to who's really at fault. Must have required the sergeant or lieutenant to be called to the scene to actually use some intelligence outside a simple default decision matrix.
#7
True, P2k, though I once saw the cops take the mother to jail and leave the father with a ticket (for lack of a better word) to appear in court.
Both had been drinking, both admitted hitting the other, there were small children in the apartment and no relatives nearby, and the cops didn't want to wait half the night for Child Abductive Services to show up. Dad was laid back and sitting quietly saying "yessir"; Mom was screaming and cussing. Not a difficult decision.
I was just glad I wasn't doing the transporting.... :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/14/2009 16:07 Comments ||
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h/t Tim Blair
Given that we are doomed to mention "fire" in a fire warning, how do we shape a judicious public policy about bushfire prevention?
I suggest we could better come to terms with the role of fire in our imaginative and social experience. I think I would argue that, long before the next bushfire season, we should speak more about fire, about its energy, which we use in so many life-giving activities and about its potential for destruction.
I have no evidence but I think that refining our understanding of its emotional, symbolic and physical power might be a good thing now in Victoria, when fire has brought us to our knees in such sadness and mourning. Pray, do go on. Did I tell you that you have lovely eyes?
Fox Point, Wis. A robber gets more than he bargained for when he targets a Tae Kwon Do studio in suburban Milwaukee.
The robber thought he could quietly slip in and out of David Kang's studio in Fox Point with some loot.
What he didn't realize is that he would encounter a Tae Kwon Do master who wasn't about to let him off the hook. Kang was giving a private lesson Tuesday and heard someone in his office. Kang found the man going through his closet, grabbed him by the neck and sat him down while he called police.
The robber took off and Kang gave chase, finally catching up with the man and holding him by the neck until police arrived.
#1
He must have been a real sweetheart of a sensei. Back in the good old days, a street fighter dojo would have left a beaten up robber naked in a ditch at 3am, 30 miles away.
Robber would think he had been abducted by aliens.
#2
Basic princple of aikido (yeah, I know this guy teaches tae kwon do but aikido is the Master martial art IMO and this sensei's actions sound very aikido-like):
Use only the force you need at the moment. Keeps you from being pulled off balance and allows tranquility of the soul, which in aikido is as much of an objective as speed and power.
Also facilitates being able to handle multiple attackers at once, when blindfolded, in the black-belt exams.
Given that the offender didn't threaten anyone with violence, catchign him and turning him over to the cops seems about right to me.
Now, if he had been stupid enough to take a swing at the sensei or pull out a knife, all bets would be off ....
#3
"Break his ankles so he cannot stand, Break his knees so he cannot run. Break his shoulders so he cannot lift a hand against you. Break his elbows so he can hold no hostage." 1,2,3,4.
#6
The only thing I was taught by the ROK Marine I befriended in Vietnam was how to silence someone - immediately, permanently, and with as little noise as possible.
The guy holding that Nutria better not let go, or he's going to have some stubs left for fingers. Those little monsters are merciless.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/14/2009 15:44 Comments ||
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BELLEVUE, Wash. -- A quarter-century ago, American rocket scientists proposed the "Star Wars" defense system to knock Soviet missiles from the skies with laser beams. Some of the same scientists are now aiming their lasers at another airborne threat: the mosquito.
In a lab in this Seattle suburb, researchers in long white coats recently stood watching a small glass box of bugs. Every few seconds, a contraption 100 feet away shot a beam that hit the buzzing mosquitoes, one by one, with a spot of red light. The insects survived this particular test, which used a non-lethal laser. But if these researchers have their way, the Cold War missile-defense strategy will be reborn as a WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction.
"We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power," says Jordin Kare, an astrophysicist who once worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the birthplace of some of the deadliest weapons known to man. More recently he worked on the mosquito laser, built from parts bought on eBay.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Bah. I'll be more impressed when scientists invent tiny anti-mosquito missiles.
Posted by: ed ||
03/14/2009 20:49 Comments ||
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#2
I saw a funny commercial, a guy is eating hot spices on crackers, a mosquito takes a sip from his arm, flies off about 4 feet and there's a small explosion as the skeeter disintegrates.
Now that's HOT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/14/2009 20:57 Comments ||
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Lesbians living in South Africa are being subjected to "corrective rape" and severe violence by men trying to "cure" them of their sexual orientation, human rights groups have said.
A report by the international NGO ActionAid, backed by the South African Human Rights Commission, said the horrific crimes against lesbians were going unrecognised by the state and unpunished by the legal system.
The report called for South Africa's criminal justice system to recognise the rapes as hate crimes in an attempt to force police to take action over the rising tide of violence.
The ferocity of the attack became clear in April last year when Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's national female football squad, became one of the victims. Miss Simelane, and equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian, was gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs.
But scores more women have been deliberately targeted for rape, the Guardian reports.
"Every day I am told that they are going to kill me, that they are going to rape me and after they rape me I'll become a girl," Zakhe Sowello from Soweto, told the paper. "When you are raped you have a lot of evidence on your body. But when we try and report these crimes nothing happens, and then you see the boys who raped you walking free on the street."
Research shows 86 per cent of black lesbians from the Western Cape live in fear of sexual assault. Triangle, a gay rights organisation, said it deals with up to 10 new cases of "corrective rape" every week.
"What we're seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them," Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive at Triangle, told the paper.
Support groups claim an increasingly macho political environment led to inaction over attacks.
A statement released by South Africa's national prosecuting authority said: "While hate crimes especially of a sexual nature are rife, it is not something that the South African government has prioritised as a specific project."
Human rights and equality campaigners are hoping that the public outrage and disgust at Miss Simelane's death and the July trial of the three men accused of her rape and murder will help put an end to the spiralling violence.
#1
The report called for South Africa's criminal justice system to recognise the rapes as hate crimes in an attempt to force police to take action over the rising tide of violence.
That says alot about S. Africa right there - Rape is ok but hate crimes - like calling someone something they don't like - is a criminal offense...
France's sole aircraft carrier, the Chicken of the Sea Charles de Gaulle, could be out of service for weeks, even months after faults were again detected in its propulsion system, said the French navy.
The aircraft carrier only took to the sea again in early December after an 18-month-long repair and maintenance. Mechanical faults were discovered in links between the two of the four turbines and their propeller shafts in the aircraft carrier, said the navy in a statement.
"It will take a couple of weeks to get to the exact root of the problem and to come up with an action plan," it said. "Repair could take a few weeks, even a few months."
Jerome Elulin, a spokesperson for the navy, said one of the parts that had faults was replaced in the last maintenance.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the flagship of the French navy, is named after French statesman General Charles de Gaulle and is the only serving French aircraft carrier. The ship can operate a fleet of up to 40 aircraft, and its runway is 195 meters long and the fly deck measures 12,000 square meters.
Fitted with the SATRAP computerized, integrated stabilization system, the Charles de Gaulle's weapons are managed by a Senit combat management system, which has the capacity to track up to 2,000 targets. It is also equipped with the SAAM missile system, two nuclear pressure water reactors, eight Nexter 20F2 20 mm guns, four Sagem Defense Securite Sagaie 10-barrel trainable decoy launchers and the Thales ARBR 21 radar warner.
Its construction began in December 1987 but was stopped on four occasions due to budget constraints. It was first tested in January 1999 and entered service in 2001.
In February 2000, a nuclear reactor trial triggered the combustion of additional isolation elements, causing a smoke incident. In November 2000, the port propeller broke, forcing the ship to be out of commission for four months.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/14/2009 12:35 ||
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#1
Is this a design issue or a maintenance issue? Both require lots of money, I just wonder where the money isn't being spent.
Hum, given the endless tragi-comedy of the "rocky" construction of the ship, amply detailed by the satirical weekly "le canard enchainé" back in the days, and the fact that the french army's vehicular pool literally is falling apart due to old age and lack of funding, I'd say... both!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/14/2009 16:01 Comments ||
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#4
As I recall without Googling, the propulsion system had a number of problems all based on the fact that what the French chose to do was good for a heavy cruiser but not good for a carrier. It was sort of a 'GM' approach.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/14/2009 16:30 Comments ||
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#5
*Somebody* signed off on these items. In most countries heads would be rolling.
#6
Careful. I'm not sure how long ago the French retired their last cheap and chippy chopper.
Which reminds me of a joke some here may not have heard. Three men were to be guillotined one day during the French Revolution, a philosopher, a priest and an engineer.
The executioner explained to them that they had a choice. They could go face up without a blindfold in which case, if the blade did not cut their head off, they would be freed. Or they could go face down with a bag over their head, in which case, they would be executed no matter how many tries it took.
The philosopher thought for a moment and decided that he had nothing to lose by taking a chance and going face up. "Sunny side up!" he said.
The blade was wound up, released and whoosh, down it came, stopping two feet above his head!
The priest seeing this thought, if God would save an atheist like that that philosopher, surely he would save me. "I will go facing my Lord." he said.
The blade was wound up, released and whoosh, down it came stopping two feet above his head!
The engineer thought to himself, two data points. I think there's a trend here. "Face up." he said.
The blade was wound up, but before it could be released, the engineer shouted, "I think I see your problem. There's a nail protruding in the channel about two feet up on the right."
#7
Satrap ( Persian: ساتراپ ) was the name given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Median and Persian empires, including the Achaemenid Empire and in several of their heirs, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The word satrap is also often used in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are heavily influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates.
Posted by: ed ||
03/14/2009 20:40 Comments ||
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#15
Any reason I got sent to Roadside America even though the last comment posted? Besides the almost comment that Val Kilmer is the DoD's latest 2000 pound bomb.
Posted by: ed ||
03/14/2009 20:43 Comments ||
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#17
A Retired Navy Captain friend of mine was friends with the Captain of the USS Enterprise where some Top Gun scenes were filmed. He relates his friends stories of Tom Cruise strutting around the ship like a little Bantam Rooster. Cruise made it known he would like a fighter jocks jacket with all the patches. The crew complied and presented him with a jacket with various patches from the ship departments, Special Services, Laundry, Meteorology, Ships Stores etc. He never knew the difference.
#19
After? After what? The revelations? WTF happened? She was smoking hot!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2009 22:37 Comments ||
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#20
Tom Cruise almost died during filming Top Gun. In the scene where he parachutes into the water, he got entangled with the shrouds. A Navy rescue diver observing the filming realized what had happened and dove in to rescue him. He was unconscious when pulled from the water.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/14/2009 23:16 Comments ||
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It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama's high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration. Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true. The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.
Polling data show that Mr. Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama's net presidential approval rating -- which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve -- is just six, his lowest rating to date.
M.E. CohenOverall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president's performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.
Continued on Page 49
The Post has decided to drop five comics from the print funnies, including "Little Dog Lost" and "Pooch Cafe." The other three features that will be dropped: "Piranha Club," Zippy the Pinhead" and "Judge Parker." In addition, "Dilbert" will commute from The Post's Biz pages to Style, Monday through Saturday.
The changes will take effect March 30. It sucks, being on the steep, slippery slope.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/14/2009 07:51 ||
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The Post Will Drop 5 Print Comics
I figured they were talking about Richard Cohen, Kathleen Parker, E.J. Dionne and Eugene "Raacisstt!!" Robinson
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2009 8:23 Comments ||
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#2
Who's the fifth one, Frank? Cortlandt Milloy?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/14/2009 8:53 Comments ||
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#3
Sally "I married the old fart to keep my dinnerparty invites coming" Quinn?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2009 9:00 Comments ||
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#4
"Dilbert" will commute from The Post's Biz pages to Style
No reason to go to the WaPo Biz page anymore.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/14/2009 9:16 Comments ||
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#5
Good enough reason to drop a subscription.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/14/2009 11:11 Comments ||
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#6
Dumb Editors at the Post.
I hope they can keep Judge Parker.
Send an email to comics@washpost.com if you want any of them back.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Pervaiz Rasheed has rejected reports of a possible reconciliation between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the PML-N, saying they are rumours designed to foil the long march.
He told a private TV channel that such rumours would not derail the march or the sit-in. He also denied that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had invited PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif for a meeting in Islamabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Amid mounting external and internal concern over the political turmoil in the country -- President Asif Ali Zardari's government is likely to offer a package deal to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed by US and Pakistan's armed forces, Daily Times has learnt. Push 'em hard enough, they always cave.
Islamabad on Friday remained the hub of political activity where diplomats -- including US Ambassador Anne Patterson -- engaged in negotiations with the government over the political turmoil. The president and the prime minister also met during the course of the day. Separately, the US ambassador and UK High Commissioner Robert Brinkley also called on the prime minister.
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani also held 'important' meetings with Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to defuse the prevailing tension. Kayani has also held several rounds of talks with senior PPP leaders over the last few days as part of efforts to bring political normalcy in the country.
Sources privy to these meetings told Daily Times that the army chief had expressed deep concern over the political impasse.
Sources said the COAS shuttled between the Presidency and Prime Minister's House amid international concern over the situation in Pakistan. Although the PPP and the PML-N are also engaged in backdoor talks, the sources said the PML-N had conveyed to the government that it would not consider an 'olive branch', instead the party wants to see concrete steps visible on the ground.
Reinstatement: "The government is considering a package to be offered to opposition parties and lawyers who have started a long march for the restoration of the judiciary. Under the package, the government will offer short term restoration of the sacked judges," said the sources.
After this gesture, the government is likely to form a parliamentary committee which would consider the appointment of the sacked judges in line with the Charter of Democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani is "committed to a civilian government" and does not want to take over like his predecessor General (r) Pervez Musharraf did in 1999, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said on Thursday. Things aren't quite chaotic enough. There are still those who believe Pakistain is capable of functioning with a civilian govt.
In an interview with PBS news, Mullen suggested he had attempted to calm Kayani on several occasions when the army chief had reportedly expressed anger at the way Pakistan's political establishment was behaving. "I have had upwards of 10 interactions with Kayani. He wants to do the right thing for Pakistan. But he is in a very tough spot," he added. There is not a "high probability right now" the political crisis will provoke Pakistani military to intervene, Mullen said.
Concerned: The JCS chairman said he was "extremely concerned" over the political crisis in Pakistan, adding US officials were closely monitoring the protests. The situation "continues to deteriorate very, very slowly under a political leadership ... challenged because of the totality of the crisis," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman has not resigned from her ministerial office, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said on Friday. Terming the reports of Sherry's resignation as false and baseless, he told a private TV channel no differences had emerged between the information minister and the PPP leadership over the media's role during a meeting at the Presidency.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman resigned from her ministerial slot on Friday night to protest the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)'s blocking of a private TV channel without taking her into confidence, sources told Daily Times.
Despite repeated attempts to contact her, Sherry was not available to confirm the news. However, sources close to the former minister insisted she had resigned as the federal minister for information and broadcasting.
Separately, sources and a private news channel claimed that neither President Asif Ali Zardari nor Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had accepted Sherry's resignation yet.
Earlier, senior Pakistan People's Party leader Mian Raza Rabbani resigned as Leader of the House in Senate and federal minister for inter-provincial coordination.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Wal-Mart will open two supermarkets targeting Hispanic consumers in Arizona and Texas, the Financial Times reported.
Supermercado de Wal-Mart will open in remodeled retail spaces previously occupied by Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market stores in Phoenix and Houston.
Wal-Mart said the stories will feature a "new layout, signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers," according to the Financial Times.
Sam's Club, also owned by Wal-Mart, will open a Hispanic-targeted discount super warehouse called Mas Club in Houston later this year, the Financial Times reported.
The new stores coincide with a larger Wal-Mart theme of targeting a certain demographic, such as African-American, urban, suburban and Hispanic.
Last year a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Texas included a larger selection of Spanish-language DVDs and music, Hispanic foods and a tortilleria bakery, the Financial Times reported.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2009 11:32 Comments ||
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#8
Like spot, the employees at my local Wal-Mart (north Dallas) are fluent in Spanish but struggle to understand even the simplest spoken English... so what's the point?
#9
Seems a quiet effort to retake Texas back into Mexico.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/14/2009 12:54 Comments ||
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#10
Seems a quiet effort to retake Texas back into Mexico.
Not. Going. To. Happen!
There are too many Mexicans here that have no desire to go back to Mexico or see this place become Mexico. There invested too much to get out of the place.
A well publicized report this week that an estimated 1.5 million American children experienced homelessness in 2005-06 did not use the federal definition of homelessness. Instead, it used a different definition that grossly inflated the actual number.
The report -- released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness and reported by numerous news organizations, including FOXNews.com -- estimated that one out of every 50 children in America experienced "homelessness" during that two-year span.
But rather than using the definition of homelessness established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Massachusetts-based organization used a standard adopted by the Department of Education that includes children who are "doubled up," or children who share housing with other persons due to economic hardship or similar reason.
#1
If he supports the judges and challenges the marriage act, he risks alienating Republicans with whom he is seeking to work on economic, health care and numerous other matters.
I doubt this will be a difficult choice for Barry the windsock.
#3
The Office of Personnel Management estimates the cost at $670 million over 10 years.
A government estimate is just that so let me give it a try. Rule of thumb with government estimates multiply by 2.5. Further, these numbers are based on the current Private Health Care provider model not Obamacare. Which means that if the pre-existing conditions clause is waived multiply by 30. And Same Sex couples will be challenged as discriminatory leading to all domestic partnerships (including opposite sex) demanding coverage multiply by another 10. Thats alotta money folks but as long as its for the children
When it comes to Hollywierd, its always interesting to see what really happens when the rubber of profitability meets the road of taxes. Don't do what I do, do what I say. The mantra of a supply sider is the more you tax it the less you get. This is a pretty good example.
We're constantly told that taxes don't matter to business and investors, but listen to that noted supply-side economist, Alec Baldwin. The actor recently rebuked New York Governor David Paterson for threatening to try to help close the state's $7 billion budget deficit by canceling a 35% tax credit for films shot in the Big Apple.
"I'm telling you right now," Mr. Baldwin declared, "if these tax breaks are not reinstated into the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse, and television is going to collapse and it's all going to go to California." Well, well. Apparently taxes do matter, at least when it comes to filming "30 Rock" in Manhattan.
Believe it or not, Mr. Baldwin's views are shared across the movie industry, which is pleading in state capitals across the country for most-favored-tax status. Hollywood productions are highly mobile and can film just about anywhere. So they have taken to shopping around the country -- and the world -- for the most lucrative tax avoidance deal.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, nearly 40 states have corporate tax carve outs or generous cash rebates to lure movie studios to their states. In Michigan, producers negotiated a 40% tax credit on their production costs. A bipartisan bill introduced in the Texas legislature last week and supported by Governor Rick Perry would allocate $60 million into the Texas Film Incentive Program. Members of the Screen Actors Guild held a rally last week in front of the state capitol urging the tax breaks.
In some cases these state tax credits exceed a company's tax liabilities, which means that Disney, Dreamworks and others can get a net cash subsidy from state taxpayers. "In many states, today, movie producers actually pay a negative tax," says a Tax Foundation report on the subject.
The Hollywood studios are ruthless profit maximizers and are expert at playing state suitors against one another. In the midst of California's recent $42 billion budget showdown, producers threatened to leave the state if the legislature didn't offer more inducements. So lawmakers in Sacramento gave the industry a new $250 million deal to stay put.
The film "Annapolis," about the Naval Academy, was supposed to be shot in Maryland, but producers negotiated a better offer in Pennsylvania shortly before filming was set to begin. So they packed the trucks and drove up the interstate to save $10 million on their taxes. A film based on the John Grisham novel, "The Runaway Jury," is set in Mississippi but filmed in Louisiana thanks to tax incentives.
Of course, this is the same Hollywood film industry whose members fund causes and candidates that favor raising taxes on everyone else. The Motion Picture Production and Distribution industry last year gave $14 million in political contributions: 89% went to pro-tax Democrats. A few years ago, director Rob Reiner funded a successful California initiative to raise the state income tax rate to more than 10%. Unlike a film shoot, which can relocate on a moment's notice, your average small businessman in Encino is stuck paying the highest tax rate in the country -- at least until he gives up and moves to Reno.
We've got nothing against industries trying to reduce their tax liability. Shareholders expect nothing less. When we asked the Motion Picture Association to justify these tax breaks, a spokesman gladly pointed to studies showing that the industry is creating thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment in the likes of Michigan and New York. Fair enough. This is called "dynamic analysis." The movie industry's tax machinations are irrefutable evidence that low tax rates do affect business decisions.
As a general principle, however, states shouldn't chase smoke stacks or film production crews with specific tax breaks. It makes much more sense for cities, states and the federal government to lower tax rates for everyone. New York City can survive without Alec Baldwin and "30 Rock," but it can't function without the thousands of small businesses that pay taxes without the benefit of lobbyists and loopholes.
Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 ||
03/14/2009 00:11 ||
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March 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. imports and exports both slumped for a sixth straight month in January in what may be the biggest collapse of world trade since the 1930s, raising the threat of protectionist measures to shield domestic industries. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in January to $36 billion, the lowest level in six years, on tumbling American demand for everything from OPEC oil to Japanese automobiles, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The Labor Department said prices of imported goods dropped for a seventh month in February, another byproduct of the global recession.
American exports have slumped at a 44 percent annual pace in the most recent six months of data, with imports shrinking 51 percent, probably the most since the Great Depression, according to Morgan Stanley analysts. The figures may add to pressure on the Obama administration to rework international agreements and include protections for U.S. workers and the environment.
The global volume of trade has collapsed, said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York in an interview with Bloomberg Television. When you add protectionism on top of that, that further reduces both the volume of trade and also efficiencies. It tends to hurt both sides.
The U.S. trade deficit has narrowed as imports fall faster than exports. American consumers are reining in spending as the unemployment rate surges and household wealth evaporates at a record pace. Consumer confidence remained near a 28-year low in March, a private report showed today. The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment was at 56.6 in March, compared with 56.3 in February. The gauge reached 55.3 in November, the lowest level since 1980.
The trade gap with China increased to $20.6 billion from $19.9 billion in the prior month as U.S. exports to the nation dropped faster than imports. China has used some of the dollars it gets from trade surpluses with the U.S. to buy American government debt, making it the largest owner of Treasuries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
or delete the first two comments
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2009 8:40 Comments ||
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#2
Or buy direct on-line. A good one is The Southern Company (NYSE) which is paying a 5% dividend.
#3
Thanks Besoeker, I have it on my radar now, and am watching the stock.
SO (Symbol)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/14/2009 12:48 Comments ||
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#4
Ford Motor is another you can buy direct. At around $2.00 per share, not much to lose and quite a lot to gain. Those F-150's and Mustangs are going to be around for a while.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/14/2009 13:46 Comments ||
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#6
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in January to $36 billion, the lowest level in six years, on tumbling American demand...
Good Lord! My eyes must deceive me. After hearing how bad trade deficits are for my entire life, I'm finding it hard to beleive that a writer openly recognized that shrinking deficits are bad.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/14/2009 14:51 Comments ||
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#7
"A good one is The Southern Company (NYSE) which is paying a 5% dividend."
How many of their power plants are coal-fired, B?
With Bambi's extremist buddies in charge, the cost of producing power from coal-fired plants is going to rise a great deal - soon. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/14/2009 15:58 Comments ||
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We are also pursuing conversion of coal-fired plants to 100 percent biomass. On August 22, 2008, Georgia Power filed an application with the Georgia Public Service Commission to convert Plant Mitchell Unit 3 to a completely biomass-fired electric generating station. This would result in one of the largest wood-fueled biomass generating facilities in the country.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Fox Point, Wis. A robber gets more than he bargained for when he targets a Tae Kwon Do studio in suburban Milwaukee.
It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama's high levels of popularity, and to conclude that these are indicative of high levels of public confidence in the work of his administration. Indeed, a detailed look at recent survey data shows that the opposite is most likely true. The American people are coming to express increasingly significant doubts about his initiatives, and most likely support a different agenda and different policies from those that the Obama administration has advanced.
Amid mounting external and internal concern over the political turmoil in the country -- President Asif Ali Zardari's government is likely to offer a package deal to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed by US and Pakistan's armed forces, Daily Times has learnt. 
Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman resigned from her ministerial slot on Friday night to protest the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)'s blocking of a private TV channel without taking her into confidence, sources told Daily Times.
Wal-Mart will open two supermarkets targeting Hispanic consumers in Arizona and Texas, the Financial Times reported.
A well publicized report this week that an estimated 1.5 million American children experienced homelessness in 2005-06 did not use the federal definition of homelessness. Instead, it used a different definition that grossly inflated the actual number.
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. imports and exports both slumped for a sixth straight month in January in what may be the biggest collapse of world trade since the 1930s, raising the threat of protectionist measures to shield domestic industries. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in January to $36 billion, the lowest level in six years, on tumbling American demand for everything from OPEC oil to Japanese automobiles, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The Labor Department said prices of imported goods dropped for a seventh month in February, another byproduct of the global recession.
