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Friday, November 30, 2012
NYC fast-food workers demand better pay
11 hrs.
Occupy the drive-thru: Fast-food workers in New York City staged a walkout on Thursday to demand better pay and the right to unionize?in another recent example of labor stretching muscles made moribund by disuse.
Organizers?of the Fast Food Forward movement said they expected hundreds of workers would walk out or not show up for work at dozens of McDonald?s, Burger King and other fast-food chains.?
Late Thursday, Fast Food Forward, one of the organizations behind the effort, released a statement saying about 200 people had participated in the strike.
At one early?morning demonstration, roughly 75 percent of shift workers were outside protesting, leaving managers to staff the registers and preparation equipment, said Jonathan Westin, organizing director with New York Communities for Change, one of the groups coordinating the walkouts.
?Workers are sick and tired of making poverty wages,? despite working for multibillion-dollar corporations, he said. ?I don?t think this is a short-term fight.?
Joshua Williams, 28, works at?a Wendy's restaurant in Brooklyn and?told Reuters he planned to participate in the walkout. He said?he still earned minimum wage, despite working 30 to 40 hours a week for more than a year.
In seeking a $15 hourly wage and the right to unionize, the movement joined a growing conversation about the financial challenges faced by the working poor.
?During the recession there was the assumption that people should just get a job, any job... I think you see the movement towards unionization as a demand-side response, in a sense,? said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute. ?Employees are saying, ?No, we want better jobs.??
The Fast Food Forward action, which is supported by the Service Employees International Union along with civil rights and community groups, comes less than a week after a union-backed effort to draw attention to wages and working conditions at Wal-Mart led to protests at stores across the country on Black Friday.?
Organization United for Respect at Walmart called on the nation?s largest retailer to pay a minimum $13 hourly wage. Sales associates there currently make an average of $8.81 an hour, according to third-party research cited by workers? rights groups.
Earlier this week, the National Domestic Workers Alliance released a report that found nearly a quarter of nannies, housekeepers and caregivers earn less than the state minimum wage, and 70 percent make less than $13 an hour.
?We must create a more equitable economic environment for all low-wage workers,? the?report said. ?It is difficult to advocate for the rights of domestic workers in an economic and political environment in which the rights of low-wage workers more broadly are so badly frayed.?
Advocates for higher wages say the focus on minimum and low-wage workers is important because there are more people earning less today. The National Employment Law Project found that about 20 percent of?jobs lost during the recession were?low-paying positions, but nearly 60 percent of the jobs?added since then.
?In my mind, if we?re going to reduce inequality in the United States, it?s going to have to address the low wages and lack of benefits in the restaurants and retail sectors,? said Annette Bernhardt, policy co-director at NELP. ?There?s a profound larger question being posed, which is how the American labor market is going to look in the 21st century.?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 60 percent of workers who earned minimum wage or less last year worked in ?service occupations,? primarily food preparation and serving.
At more than double the current national?minimum wage of $7.25, the $15 sought by Fast Food Forward might seem like a pie-in-the-sky goal, but others are pushing to increase New York state's?minimum wage to $8.50 next year. According to the National Women?s Law Center, if the minimum wage rose at the pace of inflation, it currently would be $10.60.
The National Restaurant Association opposes this and other legislation to raise minimum wages. The position statement on its website says, ?Wage mandates are an ineffective way to reduce poverty and cause restaurant operators to make very difficult decisions to eliminate jobs, cut staff hours or increase prices.?
Richard Adams, a McDonald's franchise adviser, told Reuters $15 an hour would be an "insane increase" that would add as much as $2 to the price of menu items.
"The majority of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by independent business men and women who offer pay and benefits competitive within the quick service restaurant industry," the company said in a statement.
David Neumark, a professor of economics at University of California, Irvine, said campaigns to increase wages for minimum and low-wage workers miss the mark.
?A lot of the fast-food workers aren?t in poor families ? they?re just kids,? he said. ?Targeting low-income families through what they?re trying to accomplish is a really scattershot way to do it. Why should an owner... have to pay more to the kids of middle-class families??
Galinsky said higher wages are important, but companies also need to explore other ways to improve the experience of low-wage workers, since the jobs they are filling make up an increasing percentage of labor market demand.
?Traditionally, people who work in jobs like fast food or retail? have been seen as expendable, particularly in a time of economic insecurity,? she said. The institute?s research found that access to training and advancement opportunities, flexible schedules and supportive managers help to improve productivity and reduce turnover at companies that employ low-wage workers.
?There are things that employers can do, most of which don?t cost money, that could benefit employees and that could benefit their own organization,? she said. ?It?s a mindset change.?
Information from Reuters was included in this report.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/fast-food-workers-nyc-flex-their-muscle-better-pay-1C7333668
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Finance may revise economic forecast - The Nation
Economy
The Nation November 29, 2012 3:37 pm
He did not say whether the forecast would be revised upward or downward. The current forecast of 5.5 per cent is based on the export growth forecast of 4.5-5 per cent.
Somchai noted that to achieve the export growth target of 4.5 per cent, combined export value in the remaining two months of this year must hit US$40.7 billion. If the 5 per cent target is to be achieved, the combined value must be $41.8 billion.
Weakening demand had hurt Thailand?s export value. The export just picked up in October, growing over 15 per cent from the same period last year.
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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Finance-may-revise-economic-forecast-30195266.html
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AG Harris Releases Report Detailing Charitable Solicitation - YubaNet
AG Harris Releases Report Detailing Charitable Solicitation Campaigns by Commercial Fundraisers
Published on Nov 29, 2012 - 10:13:54 AM
SACRAMENTO November 29, 2012 - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today released data showing that commercial fundraisers in California raised $338.5 million in 2011, just over half of which was actually received by charitable organizations.
The 51 percent of donated funds going to charities using a professional fundraiser represents an increase from the 2010 average of 44.4 percent. The data is included in the California Department of Justice's Annual Report of the results of commercial fundraising campaigns for charities, produced by the Charitable Trusts Section.
"This report gives Californians the vital information they need to make educated choices about where to make charitable contributions this holiday season," Attorney General Harris said. "While commercial fundraisers play a role in supporting charities in California, it is important for donors to know how much of their money will be used to support the charity's programs, and how much will go to overhead."
Commercial fundraisers, who are hired by charities to raise money on their behalf, typically charge a flat fee for their services or take a percentage of the contributions they collect. Most charities registered with the Attorney General do not use commercial fundraisers to raise funds, but do their own, in-house fundraising.
By law, commercial fundraisers must register with the Attorney General's office prior to fundraising in California and must file annual financial disclosure reports detailing income and expenses for each fundraising campaign.
The annual report contains an alphabetical list of charities that hired commercial fundraisers in 2011 ? along with the total revenue raised in those campaigns and the dollar amount and percentage of total funds raised that went to the charity.
According to reports filed with the Attorney General's office, commercial fundraisers who operate in California collected $338.5 million in donations in 2011. This figure excludes thrift store operations and vehicle donation programs, which are accounted for separately.
On average, $172.8 million ? or 51.05 percent of the funds raised ? went to the charities. The remainder was retained by the commercial fundraisers as payment for fees and expenses.
The Attorney General's office also publishes the Guide to Charitable Giving for Donors that provides advice, guidelines and information to help donors make informed decisions about giving. The guide suggests that donors:
- Ask the fundraiser how a donation will be distributed. Fundraisers are required by law to tell a consumer this information.
- Ask what percentage of donations will be used to pay for fundraising expenses. This information can better inform the consumer as to how much of the contribution will go to the cause versus overhead.
- Ask if the fundraiser works for a commercial fundraiser and is being paid to solicit. If the answer is yes, then it is likely less of the funds are going to the charity.
- Avoid cash donations, as cash can more easily be diverted to non-charitable purposes and there is no way to trace it.
- Avoid giving credit card information to a telephone solicitor or in response to a telephone solicitation.
- Learn about a charitable organization, its activities and its fundraising practices before giving. The Attorney General's office maintains a searchable online database on registered charities and registered professional fundraisers at http://rct.doj.ca.gov/MyLicenseVerification/Search.aspx. Donors can also check the websites of the Wise Giving Alliance at http://www.bbb.org/us/charity/ and the American Institute of Philanthropy at http://www.charitywatch.org/. The Guide to Charitable Giving for Donors is available online at: http://oag.ca.gov/charities/publications
The full report on commercial fundraisers can be located here: http://www.oag.ca.gov/charities/publications#fundraisers
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Film Threat - The Bootleg Files: King Lear
BOOTLEG FILES 456: ?King Lear? (1987 film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, featuring Norman Mailer, Molly Ringwald, Burgess Meredith and Woody Allen).
LAST SEEN: The film is on YouTube and Veoh.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: A VHS release in 1992.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: An elusive title from an iconic filmmaker.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It is available in Europe, so an American release is possible.
Back in 1985, Israeli-born B-movie producer Menahem Golan surprised the Cannes Film Festival with his announcement that he signed Jean-Luc Godard to direct a new production of ?King Lear.? The colorful partnership signing ceremony took place at a caf? table, with the French filmmaker affirming his participation in an agreement written out on a napkin.
Godard and Golan decided to hire Norman Mailer to write the screenplay. Mailer presented a vision of a dying Mafia chieftain named Don Learo, but the controversial novelist complicated matters by insisting that he play the role. Mailer?s daughter, actress Kate Mailer, was cast as Learo?s daughter Cordelia.
What happened next depends on which source you rely on. The Mailers and Godard began work on ?King Lear? at a resort in Nyon, Switzerland, but production halted after one day and the Mailers abruptly returned to America. Godard would blame the departure on obnoxious ?star behavior? by Mailer, while the writer would insist that he objected to Godard?s notion that his character be identified as ?Norman Mailer? rather than ?Don Learo.?
All that remained of the Mailers? on-screen contribution was a single scene of the pair discussing the screenplay in a hotel suite. Godard kept the footage and used it twice in his finished film. Burgess Meredith and Molly Ringwald (at her teen queen peak) were brought in as the replacement Learo and Cordelia.
However, anyone looking for Shakespeare in Godard?s ?King Lear? will be disappointed. Oh, there is a Shakespeare: William Shakespeare Jr. the Fifth, played by theater director Peter Sellars. This Shakespeare is a somber, spiky-haired chap who lives in a period right after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, where the world was contaminated in a manner that somehow resulted in the loss of all works of culture. Never mind that people remained healthy or that food and water remained safe ? incredibly, the works of Shakespeare?s famous ancestor mysteriously vanished from all of the world?s bookcases thanks to the Ukrainian nuclear mishap.
Thus, Shakespeare follows Learo and his daughter around a posh resort, eavesdropping as they converse in bits and pieces from what might be the dialogue of ?King Lear.? Shakespeare also makes the acquaintance of Professor Pluggy, a cigar-smoking eccentric wearing a wild wig consisting of electric cords and colored wires. Pluggy, who is played by Godard, is also obsessed with making photocopies of his hand.
Throughout the film, obscure intertitles flash across the screen. ?A Picture Shot in the Back,?? ?Fear and Loathing,? ?No Thing,? ?An Approach? and ?A Clearing? (which is also presented as ?A cLEARing?) are repeated, while absurd sound effects including screeching seagulls and honking horns fill the soundtrack.
Although some Shakespearean dialogue is used (mostly in theatrical recitations by Meredith), there are also chunks of the Mailer screenplay, which makes campy references to old-time gangsters. At one point, the action moves outside with scenes of Ringwald showering her attention on a white horse. French actress Julie Delpy and director Leos Carax also turn up in cameos, for no obvious reason except that they might have been visiting Godard?s set.
Somehow or other, Shakespeare winds up in a film editing studio run by Mr. Alien, played by (of all people) Woody Allen. The bespectacled actor/director looks glum as he edits film using safety pins and a needle and thread. Shakespeare falls into a large pile of unspooled film while Mr. Alien (clearly reading from a cue card) offers a couple of lines from Shakespeare. And then, ?King Lear? stops without actually ending.
If anyone other than Godard created ?King Lear,? the film would never have found its way into a movie projector. But the fact that Godard is responsible does not bring any value to the production. While it would be foolish to expect a completely faithful Shakespeare adaptation from Godard, there is no pleasure in being fooled into thinking that this vague, obscure, annoying, cacophonous wreck of a film is anything but a joke being played by a self-indulgent filmmaker.
Even Woody Allen realized the film was a disaster during the shooting of his brief scene. ?It was one of the most foolish experiences I?ve ever had,? he recalled in an interview. ?I?d be amazed if I was anything but consummately insipid.?
Allen never saw the finished film, but he was hardly alone ? Menahem Golan, who was never shy about releasing crummy films through his Cannon Films distribution company, realized that he had a flop with ?King Lear.? After a disastrous premiere during the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, Golan gave ?King Lear? a brief platform release at selected U.S. art house venues. A few critics, most notably Kevin Thomas and Jonathan Rosenbaum, rushed to the film?s defense, but the majority of reviewers panned the production and audiences stayed away. Indeed, the film?s lack of resonance was so strong that a young Quentin Tarantino attempted to inflate his early career credentials by falsely claiming he had a role in the production ? in Tarantino?s mind, so few people saw the film that no one would challenge his claim of being a cast member.
Outside of a 1992 VHS video release on the Xenon label and occasional screenings in Godard retrospectives, ?King Lear? has mostly been unavailable in the U.S. The film has been released on DVD in Europe, so it is not inconceivable that a U.S. label (most likely Criterion Collection) would pick it up. In the meantime, the film can easily be located on the YouTube and Veoh websites.
However, unless you are truly a Godard addict, ?King Lear? offers nothing except confusion and stupidity. The Washington Post?s Desson Howe probably said it best: ?William Shakespeare would need a sense of humor to view Jean-Luc Godard?s ?King Lear? without getting steamed up in his bodkins.?
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either for crass commercial purposes or profit-free shits and giggles, is not something that the entertainment industry appreciates. On occasion, law enforcement personnel boost their arrest quotas by collaring cheery cinephiles engaged in such activities. So if you are going to copy and distribute bootleg material, a word to the wise: don?t get caught. Oddly, the purchase and ownership of bootleg DVDs is perfectly legal. Go figure!
Posted on November 30, 2012 in Bootleg Files, Features by Phil Hall
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Source: http://www.filmthreat.com/features/58402/
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Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider: Republicans taps new House panel chairs
House Republicans on Tuesday announced their lineup of committee chairs for the 113th Congress, which begins in January, as a number of major changes took place thanks to GOP rules that limit service in the party's top slot on committees to six years.
Only one person was given an exemption for the next Congress, that was Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who got a waiver from House Speaker John Boehner to again lead the Budget Committee.
Here is the list:
Agriculture ? Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)
Appropriations ? Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)
Armed Services ? Rep. Howard ?Buck? McKeon (R-CA)
Budget ? Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
Education and the Workforce ? Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
Energy and Commerce ? Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
Financial Services ? Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Foreign Affairs ? Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA)
Homeland Security ? Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX)
Intelligence ? Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI)
Judiciary ? Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Natural Resources ? Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Oversight and Government Reform ? Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Rules ? Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Science, Space, and Technology ? Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)
Small Business ? Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO)
Transportation and Infrastructure ? Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA)
Veterans? Affairs ? Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Ways and Means ? Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)
While the Drudge Report and others accurately noted that the lineup consists entirely of white men, that was only a minor change from the current Congress, as the one woman heading a committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida cycled out because of committee term limits.
The biggest loser in this shakeup was the Sunshine State, as Florida lost the chairs of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (Rep. John Mica) and Ros-Lehtinen on Foreign Affairs; Rep. Jeff Miller is the only major chair left from Florida, as he still heads the Veterans Affairs panel.
The big winner was the state of Texas, which ended up adding two gavels, but in a roundabout fashion.
Rep. Lamar Smith switches from chair of the Judiciary Committee to the Science panel, taking over for Rep. Ralph Hall of Texas; Lone Star State Rep. Mike McCaul will be the new head of Homeland Security and Rep. Jeb Hensarling takes over the Financial Services Committee.
Also, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas will be the chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, giving Texas four powerful committee slots as that delegation adds four seats in the new Congress after redistricting.
California will still have two gavels, as Rep. Darrell Issa stays on as head of the Oversight panel; while Rep. David Dreier leaves as Rules chairman, Rep. Ed Royce of the Golden State will be the new chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Maybe the most interesting name on the list is the new Transportation panel chairman, Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania; his father, Rep. Bud Shuster also chaired the same committee, but was the target of an ethics probe, and ultimately resigned after being elected to a 14th term in office.
Maybe the most infamous moment for Shuster the Father came when a "60 Minutes" crew filmed him hiding under a blanket in the back seat of a car driven by his former Chief of Staff.
We'll see if Shuster the Son is remembered differently after his time at the helm of the Transportation panel.
Source: http://www.boortz.com/weblogs/jamie-dupree/2012/nov/27/republicans-taps-new-house-panel-chairs/
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
NYT > Science
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tajikistan blocks Facebook access to silence critics
DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan has blocked access to Facebook in response to a slew of comments spreading "mud and slander" about veteran President Imomali Rakhmon and officials in the Central Asian republic.
The ban on the popular social networking site is the latest crackdown on dissent in Tajikistan a year before an election that could extend Rakhmon's two-decade rule.
Beg Zukhurov, head of the state-run communications service that is enforcing the ban - the second time Tajikistan has blocked Facebook this year - accused unnamed donors of paying users to post negative comments about "respected figures".
"The best representatives of the public - among them academics, doctors and important cultural figures - are tired of the stream of mud and slander that flows from the website called Facebook," Zukhurov told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday.
"With this public support, a decision was taken to block this site, where some people are receiving $5,000 to $10,000 for every critical comment that they post."
He did not offer any evidence for this allegation or say who might be funding these posts.
Rakhmon has ruled since 1992 in Tajikistan, an impoverished ex-Soviet republic of 7.5 million people lying on a major transit route for Afghan drugs to Europe and Russia.
Victory in a November 2013 election would give the 60-year-old former cotton farm boss a further seven years in charge of a country still finding its way after a civil war in the 1990s that killed tens of thousands.
In recent months, the government has turned its attention to damping down dissent by creating a volunteer-run body to monitor Internet use and reprimand those who openly criticize the government.
WARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Tighter Internet controls echo measures taken by other former Soviet republics in Central Asia, where authoritarian rulers are wary of the role social media played in revolutions in the Arab world and mass protests in Russia.
Tajikistan authorities have also launched a crackdown on religious groups and imprisoned more than 150 people in the last three years on charges of extremism and attempting to subvert the constitution.
Officials have blocked access to Facebook before, for the same reason. The site was shut for 10 days in March, prompting criticism from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Facebook's popularity has soared in Tajikistan. Membership has trebled to more than 40,000 over the last 18 months.
"Does Facebook have an owner? I'd like to speak to him," Zukhurov said. "Let him come here and meet me in my office."
Zafar Abdullayev, a political analyst in the capital Dushanbe, said he believed the ban reflected concerns about rising public criticism ahead of the presidential election.
"We can expect to see more steps to restrict freedom of speech on the Internet, as the authorities have made no secret of the fact they see a real threat in social networking sites," he said.
The website of Russian news agency RIA Novosti and state-run television channel Rossiya-24 were also blocked along with Facebook in March, and access has not been restored.
Some Internet users in Tajikistan, however, have installed software that allows them to circumvent the blockage.
(Writing by Robin Paxton; Editing by Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tajikistan-blocks-facebook-access-silence-critics-121104317.html
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Russia's Cossacks start patrolling Moscow streets
Two Russian Cossacks, right, watch pedestrians passing by as they patrol Belorussky railway station in downtown Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks, unlicensed traders and improperly parked cars. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Two Russian Cossacks, right, watch pedestrians passing by as they patrol Belorussky railway station in downtown Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks, unlicensed traders and improperly parked cars. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Two Russian Cossacks watch pedestrians passing by as they patrol Belorussky railway station in downtown Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012. Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks, unlicensed traders and improperly parked cars. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
MOSCOW (AP) ? Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and notorious for their anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks and improperly parked cars.
With the approval of city authorities, eight Cossacks clad in traditional fur hats and uniforms patrolled a Moscow train station on Tuesday looking for signs of minor public disturbances.
The Kremlin is seeking to use the once-feared paramilitary squads in its new drive to promote conservative values and appeal to nationalists.
The southern Krasnodar province ? which includes Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics ? launched Cossack patrols in September to crack down on Muslim migrants from the neighboring Caucasus. Now they've made it to the Russian capital.
Cossacks trace their history in Russia back to the 15th century. Serving in the czarist cavalry, they spearheaded imperial Russia's expansion in exchange for special privileges, including the right to govern their own villages. In the 2010 census, about 650,000 Russians declared themselves Cossacks.
Tuesday's patrol was a test run on whether the group can become an armed and salaried auxiliary police force, with the power of arrest, patrol leader Igor Gulichev said.
He compared his forces to the Texas Rangers, the elite law-enforcement body in the U.S. state.
"They are just like Cossacks, and they work for the government, but they're welcomed with open arms. How come this should be allowed in America, but not in Russia, with our rich Cossack traditions? We're like Chuck Norris!" Gulichev said, in reference to the cult karate-kicking star of the television series "Walker, Texas Ranger."
Gulichev's group, which he said numbers up to 85, has patrolled southwestern Moscow with police approval for the past year, and has brought about 35 arrests. They are unpaid but receive free public transport passes and uniforms. Tuesday's patrol was the first in central Moscow.
The conservative Cossacks have increased their political activity in response to an impromptu protest that feminist punk rockers Pussy Riot staged in Moscow's main cathedral in February. Groups of Cossacks recently barred visitors from entering a Moscow art exhibition that daubed Pussy Riot's trademark balaclavas over Orthodox Christian icons, and they led a successful campaign to cancel a staging of Vladimir Nabokov's racy novel "Lolita" in St. Petersburg.
A government-backed Cossack political party held its first congress in Moscow this weekend. Communists have called it a cheap attempt to siphon pensioners' support from their party, which is widely known by the same acronym. Six other groups have applied to form splinter Cossack parties.
Gulichev, whose official title is deputy ataman, a Turkic word meaning commander, said he expected his group's responsibilities would soon expand to fighting drug trafficking and terrorism, mirroring the special relationship Cossacks had with the czars. "Cossacks have always been on the frontiers of the Russian empire, fighting foes and adversaries, illegal immigration ? repulsing raids, as people say today," he added.
Tuesday's modest effort lasted barely more than an hour and yielded few rewards. Without the police supervisor that Russian law requires to oversee volunteer deputies, the Cossacks drove away two elderly beggars, an old woman selling dried wild mushrooms and one unlicensed trading stall before piling into a bus. The stall was back selling socks within hours.
City authorities later distanced themselves from the Cossack patrol, even though officials had announced it widely the day before. Moscow's central district administration and the city Cossack committee released a joint statement denying they had authorized the patrol and saying that the Cossacks did not have the authority to crack down on unlicensed traders or badly parked cars.
Gulichev later told the Interfax news agency that the Cossacks had been hampered by the several dozen journalists who arrived to cover the patrol. The Cossacks spent most of their time giving interviews or aimlessly milling around the square, and only began their battle against public disturbances after reporters from Russian state television desperately begged them to do something on camera.
President Vladimir Putin was inducted into what is known as the Cossack host in 2005 and given the rank of Cossack colonel, previously held by imperial czars.
Russia plans to restore the functions Cossacks had in the imperial Russian army, where they were instrumental in repelling Napoleon's invading army in 1812 and led pogroms against Jews. A 400,000-strong All-Russia Cossack Host directly subordinate to Putin is scheduled to be launched by the end of the year.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Installed price of solar photovoltaic systems in US continues to decline at rapid pace
ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2012) ? The installed price of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the United States fell substantially in 2011 and through the first half of 2012, according to the latest edition of Tracking the Sun, an annual PV cost-tracking report produced by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
The median installed price of residential and commercial PV systems completed in 2011 fell by roughly 11 to 14 percent from the year before, depending on system size, and, in California, prices fell by an additional 3 to 7 percent within the first six months of 2012. These recent installed price reductions are attributable, in large part, to dramatic reductions in PV module prices, which have been falling precipitously since 2008.
The report indicates that non-module costs -- such as installation labor, marketing, overhead, inverters, and the balance of systems -- have also fallen significantly over time. "The drop in non-module costs is especially important," notes report co-author Ryan Wiser of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division, "as these costs can be most readily influenced by local, state, and national policies aimed at accelerating deployment and removing market barriers." According to the report, average non-module costs for residential and commercial systems declined by roughly 30 percent from 1998 to 2011, but have not declined as rapidly as module prices in recent years. As a result, non-module costs now represent a sizable fraction of the installed price of PV systems, and continued deep reduction in the price of PV will require concerted emphasis on lowering the portion of non-module costs associated with so-called "business process" or "soft" costs.
The report indicates that the median installed price of PV systems installed in 2011 was $6.10 per watt (W) for residential and small commercial systems smaller than 10 kilowatts (kW) in size and was $4.90/W for larger commercial systems of 100 kW or more in size. Utility-sector PV systems larger than 2,000 kW in size averaged $3.40/W in 2011. Report co-author Galen Barbose, also of Berkeley Lab, stresses the importance of keeping these numbers in context, noting that "these data provide a reliable benchmark for systems installed in the recent past, but prices have continued to decline over time, and PV systems being sold today are being offered at lower prices."
Based on these data and on installed price data from other major international PV markets, the authors suggest that PV prices in the United States may be driven lower through large-scale deployment programs, but that other factors are also important in achieving installed price reductions.
The market for solar PV systems in the United States has grown rapidly over the past decade, as national, state and local governments offered various incentives to expand the solar market and accelerate cost reductions. This fifth edition in Berkeley Lab's Tracking the Sun reportseries describes historical trends in the installed price of PV in the United States, and examines more than 150,000 residential, commercial, and utility-sector PV systems installed between 1998 and 2011 across 27 states, representing roughly 76 percent of all grid-connected PV capacity installed in the United States. Na?m Darghouth, also with Berkeley Lab, explains that "the study is intended to provide policy makers and industry observers with a reliable and detailed set of historical benchmarks for tracking and understanding past trends in the installed price of PV."
Prices Differ by Region and by Size and Type of System
The study also highlights the significant variability in PV system pricing, some of which is associated with differences in installed prices by region and by system size and installation type. Comparing across U.S. states, for example, the median installed price of PV systems less than 10 kW in size that were completed in 2011 and ranged from $4.90/W to $7.60/W, depending on the state.
It also shows that PV installed prices exhibit significant economies of scale. Among systems installed in 2011, the median price for systems smaller than 2 kW was $7.70/W, while the median price for large commercial systems greater than 1,000 kW in size was $4.50/W. Utility-scale systems installed in 2011 registered even lower prices, with most systems larger than 10,000 kW ranging from $2.80/W to $3.50/W.
The report also finds that the installed price of residential PV systems on new homes has generally been significantly lower than the price of similarly sized systems installed as retrofits to existing homes, that building integrated PV systems have generally been higher priced than rack-mounted systems, and that systems installed on tax-exempt customer sites have generally been priced higher than those installed at residential and for-profit commercial customer sites.
Price Declines for PV System Owners in 2011 Were Offset by Falling Incentives
State agencies and utilities in many regions offer rebates or other forms of cash incentives for residential and commercial PV systems. According to the report, the median pre-tax value of such cash incentives ranged from $0.90/W to $1.20/W for systems installed in 2011, depending on system size. These incentives have declined significantly over time, falling by roughly 80 percent over the past decade, and by 21 percent to 43 percent from just 2010 to 2011. Rather than a direct cash incentive, some states with renewables portfolio standards provide financial incentives for solar PV by creating a market for solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs), and SREC prices have also fallen dramatically in recent years. These declines in cash incentives and SREC prices have, to a significant degree, offset recent installed price reductions, dampening any overall improvement in the customer economics of solar PV.
The report Tracking the Sun V: An Historical Summary of the Installed Price of Photovoltaics in the United States from 1998 to 2011, by Galen Barbose, Na?m Darghouth, and Ryan Wiser, may be downloaded from: http://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/LBNL-5919e-REPORT.pdf.
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