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UK-London: insurance services
2011/S 250-408505
Contract notice
Services
Directive 2004/18/EC
Section I: Contracting authority
Contact point(s): For the attention of: Telephone: E-mail: Fax: Wandsworth Borough Council
Finance Department, The Town Hall
Mr. Mike Hall
Mr. Mike Hall
SW18 2PULondon
UNITED KINGDOM
+44 2088716407
mhall@wandsworth.gov.uk
+44 2088718788
Internet address(es):
Address of the buyer profile: www.wandsworth.gov.uk
Further information can be obtained from:For the attention of: Telephone: E-mail: Fax: Internet address: Jardine Lloyd Thompson - Public Sector Risks
6 Crutched Friars
Bill Sulman
EC3N 2PHLondon
UNITED KINGDOM
+44 1793737641
bill_sulman@jltgroup.com
+44 2075284500
www.jltgroup.com
Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from:For the attention of: Telephone: E-mail: Fax: Internet address: Jardine Lloyd Thompson - Public Sector Risks
6 Crutched Friars
Bill Sulman
EC3N 2PHLondon
UNITED KINGDOM
+44 1793737641
bill_sulman@jltgroup.com
+44 2075284500
www.jltgroup.com
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to:For the attention of: Telephone: E-mail: Fax: Internet address: Jardine Lloyd Thompson - Public Sector Risks
6 Crutched Friars
Bill Sulman
EC3N 2PHLondon
UNITED KINGDOM
+44 1793737641
bill_sulman@jltgroup.com
+44 2075284500
www.jltgroup.com
Regional or local authority
General public services
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: no
Section II: Object of the contract
Insurance Services.
Services
Service category No 6: Financial servicesa)Insurances services b)Banking and investment services
NUTS code UKI11
The notice involves a public contract
II.1.4)
Information on framework agreement
Insurance services. Fire insurance services. Property insurance services. Weather and financial loss insurance services. Accident and health insurance services. Contractor's all-risk insurance services. Motor vehicle insurance services. Liability insurance services. Professional liability insurance services. Engineering insurance services. Damage or loss insurance services. Pecuniary loss insurance services. General liability insurance services. The provision of a range of non-life insurance services. The services have been divided into eight Lots. Organisations are invited to bid for any number or combination of Lots, with organisations being invited to propose discounts for winning multiple lots. Applications will only be considered from organisations able to clearly demonstrate they have relevant experience in providing the insurance services applicable to the relevant Lot which include the following:
Lot 1: Property insurance services (including general properties, education and housing stock);
Lot 2: Housing properties insurance services;
Lot 3: Fidelity guarantee services (fraud by employees);
Lot 4: Combined Liability insurance services (Employers, Public and Professional Liability);
Lot 5: Motor vehicle insurance services (private cars and commercial vehicles);
Lot 6: Engineering inspection sand insurance services;
Lot 7: Group personal accident and travel insurance services;
Lot 8: Property terrorism insurance services.
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
II.1.7)
Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
This contract is divided into lots: yes
Tenders may be submitted for one or more lots
Variants will be accepted: no
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion. The contracts for each lot will commence on 1st April 2012. The estimated total annual value of all lots is 2,314,000GBP.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 2 314 000 GBP
Options: yes
Description of these options: The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Provisional timetable for recourse to these options:
in months: 24 (from the award of the contract)
II.2.3)
Information about renewals
Starting 1.4.2012. Completion 31.3.2015
Information about lots
Lot No: 1
Lot title: Property insurance services
Property insurance services (including general properties, education and housing stock).
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 877 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 2
Lot title: Housing properties insurance
Housing properties insurance services.
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 177 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 3
Lot title: Fidelity guarantee
Fidelity guarantee services (fraud by employees).
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 14 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 4
Lot title: Combined liability
Combined Liability insurance services (Employers, Public and Professional Liability).
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 244 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 5
Lot title: Motor vehicle insurance
Motor vehicle insurance services (private cars and commercial vehicles).
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 202 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 6
Lot title: Engineering related insurance services
Engineering inspection and insurance services.
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 173 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 7
Lot title: Group personal accident insurance services
Group personal accident and travel insurance services.
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 11 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 8
Lot title: Property terrorism insurance services
Property terrorism insurance services.
66510000, 66515100, 66515200, 66515300, 66512000, 66513200, 66514110, 66516000, 66516500, 66519200, 66515000, 66515411, 66516400
The contracts will be for an initial fixed term of three years with an option to extend for up to two years at the Council???s absolute discretion.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 616 000 GBP
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1.1)
Deposits and guarantees required:
III.1.2)
Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
III.1.3)
Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: no
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: All bidders must be insurance companies registered with the FSA to underwrite insurance business within the EC member states.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: Service providers must be Insurance Companies authorised to write the classes of insurance listed within the EC member states subject to English/Welsh Law and Jurisdiction of the English/Welsh Courts. Potential suppliers may be asked to provide a certificate issued by the appropriate insurance regulatory body indicating types of business they are authorised to write.
III.2.3)
Technical capacity
III.2.4)
Information about reserved contracts
Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: yes
Reference to the relevant law, regulation or administrative provision: Service providers will be insurance companies authorised to write the classes of insurance listed within the EC Member states subject to English/Welsh Law and jurisdiction of the English/Welsh Courts. The service will be regulated by the provisions of the insurance companies act 1982 and any modification thereof.
Legal persons should indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service: yes
Section IV: Procedure
Open
IV.1.2)
Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate
IV.1.3)
Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue
The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document
An electronic auction will be used: no
CPT/863
no
Payable documents: no
8.2.2012 - 12:00
IV.3.5)
Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
English.
until: 31.3.2012
Date: 8.2.2012 - 12:00
Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: no
Section VI: Complementary information
This is a recurrent procurement: no
The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
The award of the contract for each Lot will be based on the most economically advantageous compliant tender for that Lot. Full selection and evaluation methodology will be set out in the Invitation to Tender but organisations should note that to be compliant organisations must demonstrate they can meet the service specification and have relevant experience. Therefore, organisations must submit a clear and detailed method statement outlining how the organisation will meet and comply in full with the requirements of the service specification. If you wish to discuss the contract please contact Mike Hall on +44 2088716407. GO Reference: GO-20111223-PRO-3621354.
VI.4)
Procedures for appeal
VI.4.1)
Body responsible for appeal procedures
VI.4.2)
Lodging of appeals
VI.4.3)
Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained
23.12.2011
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PTenders/juwK/~3/ztI4jTJ8vck/130732
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HONOLULU (AP) ? The sale of $30 billion worth of F-15SA fighter jets to Saudi Arabia has been finalized, the Obama administration said Thursday, boosting the military strength of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East to help counter Iran.
Under the agreement, the U.S. will send Saudi Arabia 84 new fighter jets and upgrades for 70 more. Production of the aircraft, which will be manufactured by Boeing Co., will support 50,000 jobs and have a $3.5 billion annual economic impact in the U.S., the White House said.
The sale is part of a larger U.S. effort to realign its defense policies in the Persian Gulf to keep Iran in check. The announcement came as U.S. officials weighed a fresh threat from Tehran, which warned this week it could disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital Persian Gulf oil transport route, if Washington levies new sanctions targeting Iran's crude exports.
Administration officials said the timing of Thursday's announcement was not tied to the new threat from Tehran. But they did make clear that the fighter jet sale would help Saudi Arabia counter potential troubles with Iran.
"This sale will send a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the Gulf and broader Middle East," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro. "It will enhance Saudi Arabia's ability to deter and defend against external threats to its sovereignty."
The fighter jet sale is part of a larger 10-year, $60 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia that also includes helicopters, a broad array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as radar warning systems and night-vision goggles. Congress gave the deal the go-ahead about a year ago.
The plan initially raised concerns from pro-Israeli lawmakers, but U.S. officials reassured Congress that Israel's military edge would not be undercut by the sale. Additionally, there is now broad agreement among Israel, the Gulf Arab states and the West that Iran poses a significant and unpredictable threat.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are bitter regional rivals. Tensions between them were further stoked earlier this year after the U.S. accused Iran of plotting to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington.
Saudi Arabia is already the most militarily advanced of the Arab Gulf states, one of the richest countries in the world, and central to American policy in the Middle East. It is also vital to U.S. energy security, with Saudi Arabia ranking as the third-largest source of U.S. oil imports.
But relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia grew frosty earlier this year, as the allies found themselves at odds during the protests that swept through the Arab world. The Obama administration angered the Saudis by pulling support from former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, a longtime ally of both countries. And the U.S. bristled when Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to quell protests there.
The White House announced the agreement with Saudi Arabia from Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.
___
Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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From the debt crisis in Europe to the S&P's downgrade of the United State's credit rating and don't forget Occupy Wall Street, CNBC's Bill Griffeth shares his top moments of the year.
Related Links:
Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45828695/
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Needless to say, 2011 ended with mixed results. Home prices didn't rebound, but sales showed signs of improvement and the rental market was strong. Europe's ongoing debt crisis rattled markets worldwide, leaving investors scurrying for for safer investments. So will 2012 be any different?
Should we be be bullish or bearish on housing, the stock market, gold and oil? Read on and decide for yourself.
NEXT: U.S. Housing: Bull
The companies, products and trends that will transform technology next year.
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BEIJING ? A former lawyer and veteran activist left disabled by past police mistreatment went on trial Thursday, the third dissident in a week to be prosecuted as China presses a sweeping crackdown to deter popular uprisings like the ones that shook the Arab world.
Looking thin and frail, Ni Yulan lay on a bed and used an oxygen machine to help her breathe during the hearing, her daughter, Dong Xuan, said afterward. Dong said she told the court about her mother's run-ins with police since 2002 and how police beatings left her crippled.
"Seeing my mother lying on that bed, it made my heart ache," Dong said.
Ni is charged with fraud, accused of falsifying facts to steal property. She is also charged, along with her husband, with causing a disturbance at a hotel where they had been detained by police.
Ni and her supporters deny the charges and say she is being punished for her years of activism, especially her advocacy for people forced from their homes to make way for the fast-paced real estate development that remade Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Her outspoken defense earned her the enmity of officials and developers. Her family's house in an old neighborhood in the capital's center was also razed, and the couple became homeless.
The couple's trial comes near the end of a year that has seen Chinese authorities use disappearances, house arrest, lengthy prison terms and other means to prevent activists from drawing inspiration from the Arab Spring protests that unseated autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
In the past week, two longtime democracy and rights activists, Chen Wei and Chen Xi, were separately sentenced by courts in southern and central China to nine and 10 years in prison for posting essays on the Internet that the government deemed subversive.
Referring to the two cases, an editorial published in China's state-run Global Times newspaper on Thursday expressed support for the convictions.
"To firmly convict and punish a handful of people who instigate subversion of state power is a must. It is a safeguard for state security and a safeguard for a normal environment for public opinion," the newspaper said.
Like those two campaigners, the 51-year-old Ni has been previously jailed, twice in her case. In a June 2010 interview with The Associated Press, Ni described abuse she suffered at the hands of police, saying that guards have beaten her, insulted her and urinated on her face. While in detention in 2002, police pinned her down and kicked her knees until she was unable to walk, she said.
While serving the second prison term of two years, Ni said she was deprived of her crutches and had to crawl up and down five stories and across the prison yard every day for months.
Ni said the authorities were trying to silence her because in trying to defend those who had been wrongly evicted from their homes, she had found evidence of wrongdoing by Beijing officials in lucrative land deals.
"When they were making me crawl in prison, they were basically trying to kill me so that they can silence me," Ni said in the 2010 interview. "Isn't it just because I'm trying to tell the truth?"
In a sign of the government's sensitivity over the case, Thursday's trial took place under heavy security. Dozens of uniformed police sealed off and patrolled roads around the courthouse, rounding up journalists and about a dozen diplomats from the United States and Europe and taking them to a small office across from the building.
Ni told the court she was not guilty, said her lawyer Cheng Hai, outside the courthouse. Cheng spoke only briefly as he was being pushed away from reporters by plainclothes men who did not identify themselves.
Dong said she was happy to see her parents for the first time in the nearly nine months but she was not optimistic about the outcome of the trial, citing the couple's lengthy detention and the heavy security presence at the courthouse.
"This is definitely not a normal trial procedure, so I feel the risk of conviction is high," she said.
___
Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong
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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? If you've ever been to a gay and lesbian film festival, you've seen the story a million times -- teen hides sexuality from closed-minded parents, sneaks into a gay bar, finds true love, moves to the big city, dances to house music under the closing credits.
First-time writer-director Dee Rees avoids all the usual clich?s with the powerful "Pariah," a moving story that's told with intelligence, heart and a working knowledge of the real world we live in.
Even coming in at a lean 86 minutes, the film paints a fully formed picture not only of its budding protagonist but also of the family and friends around her.
Seventeen-year-old Alike (pronounced uh-LEE-kay, played by Adepero Oduye) finds herself bouncing back and forth between two worlds and feeling at home in neither. At night, she's a butch club kid, sneaking into lesbian bars with her friend Laura (Pernell Walker), but after Laura gets off the bus, Alike takes off the baseball cap and the polo shirt, ties her braids in a bun and puts her earrings back in.
Rees' script provides the foundation for a complex character, but it's Kim Wayans as Alike's mother who builds upon it, creating a heartbreaking portrait of a flawed woman whose life has failed to meet her aspirations.
Alike encounters her share of heartbreaks over the course of "Pariah," but as she writes in the poem that ends the film, breaking apart still lets the light in. And while campaigns like "It Gets Better" give young gay and lesbian kids something to look forward to in adulthood, it's important not to soft-pedal that the road to post-adolescence is an often painful one that requires careful navigation.
In providing teens with a look at one possible route, Rees also puts herself on the map as a storyteller with a bright future ahead of her.
It's this more feminine persona that Alike shows around the house, even though her mother Audrey (Wayans) worries about this tomboyish "phase" that her daughter is going through and tries to buy her the girliest outfits imaginable. Audrey has other issues in her life, notably the fact that her husband Arthur (Charles Parnell) seems to be working ever-longer shifts as an NYPD detective and is mentally withdrawing from his wife further every day.
("Pariah" deserves points, incidentally, for being a rare mainstream movie about an African-American family where both parents are alive, still married and present in their children's lives.)
Alike's attempts to juggle schoolwork and her double life -- compounded by her ongoing search for her first love -- makes up the bulk of "Pariah," but Rees does an extraordinary job of giving this fascinating young girl a context; unlike so many coming-of-age films that seem to take place in a vacuum, this movie remains fascinating even in its scenes that aren't about its heroine.
Rees has a refined ear for dialogue, and so all of the conversations and relationships in the film (father-daughter, husband-wife, classmate-classmate, coworker-coworker) all feel genuine. It helps that the filmmaker has such an obvious rapport with her cast, delivering up one of the year's most consistently compelling ensembles.
Oduye has worked mostly in short films and television over the last decade -- "Louie" watchers will recall her role as a woman who enchants the comedian into following her across town -- but here she gets a star-making performance on par with Elizabeth Olsen's breakout in "Martha Marcy May Marlene." Alike frequently keeps her feelings hidden, but Oduye's eyes communicate everything we need to know. She's a full-on movie star, as Bradford Young's luminous cinematography reminds us throughout.
And who knew Kim Wayans was such an extraordinary dramatic actress? Long the undersung member of her comedic family, Wayans takes what could have been a two-dimensional uptight-mommy role and mines it for all the pain and self-justification she could find.
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Cecilia Gasparian (second from left)
Some 6,000 nurses in California went on a one-day strike on Thursday December 22. The nurses are demanding decent staffing levels, health benefits, and sick leave.
The protest affected eight for-profit San Francisco Hospitals, all owned by Sutter Corporation, and the Long Beach Children?s Hospital complex in Southern California, also privately operated but not by Sutter. At the Long Beach protest, nurses were also demanding lifting teams for heavy patients and regular breaks.
As in previous struggles, by limiting the protest to a one-day strike at a few hospitals, the nurses unions, the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses United, are paving the way for givebacks and defeats.
Both hospital corporations responded to the protest by punishing the nurses for their job action?in Long Beach by locking them out until Tuesday, December 27, and until Saturday for Sutter nurses. The hospitals enforced the lockout on the pretext that they could not hire replacement nurses for only one day.
Spokespersons for Sutter attempted to minimize the impact of the protest, claiming that more than half the nurses had not participated in the strike in hospitals in Antioch and Castro Valley, but gave no precise numbers.
The California strike took place a day after nurses in New York City demonstrated in Wall Street against Cerberus Capital Management, whose health care company, Steward, has engaged in aggressive cost cutting since acquiring hospitals in Massachusetts. One thousand New York City nurses intend to strike on January 3.
On September 22, Sutter hospital nurses also walked out, together with nurses employed by the Kaiser Permanente HMO and Oakland?s Children Hospital.
On Thursday, in Long Beach, hundreds of nurses picketed the Long Beach Memorial Center.
At a noon rally, dozens of police were present, in addition to a beefed up force of security officers. Helicopters flying overhead supported the police force. One nurse who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site denounced it as a ?criminalization of nursing.?
Tensions were high when, following the rally, the pickets attempted to enter the hospital and were pushed back by the private security force.
Nurses estimated that the cost of extra security and strikebreaking nurses most likely exceeded the cost of agreeing to the nurses? demands.
The picketers carried signs that demanded rest breaks for nurses, adequate patient-to-nurse ratios, and the elevation of patients before profits.
For the LBMC management, state-mandated nurse to patient ratios are being obeyed by forcing nurses to work 12-hour shifts, often through their lunch and rest breaks.
The World Socialist Web Site spoke to Cecilia Gasparian and Mar?a Caro, both cardiac care nurses.
?Our patient to nurse ratio in the Interventional Coronary Care Unit is 3:1, but we cannot refuse extra patients in an emergency,? Cecilia said. ?That is ground for termination. We do file an objection, for our protection and for the protection of the patients. For management, money comes before patients; it is profits that count.?
Mar?a Caro
Mar?a pointed out that there is a surplus of nurses in California. However, the hospitals resist calling in or hiring extra nurses: ?Nurses have been furloughed while other nurses are forced to work through their breaks,? said Mar?a. ?Over the summer, nurses were furloughed for about 30 days. That is one reason why we feel so strongly about ratios.?
Another major issue at LBMC is the lack of lifting teams to move heavy patients.
?They have four people; they call it a team,? said Mar?a. ?That is not enough for a hospital this size. Most of the time, it is up to us to lift and turn people, no matter what their size. Management thinks that this is safe. Safe for whom? All this lifting and turning takes a physical toll. A patient that is not turned can get bed sores, blood clots, even pneumonia.?
?Management puts a price on the care of the patient,? Mar?a added. ?In my 20 years of nursing, the profit motive has always been there. The difference is that today they are cutting to the bone.?
Cutbacks have resulted in the speed-up of nursing and the discharge of patients who are not profitable the hospital.
?I have attended meetings in which nurses are told to push patients out whose insurance coverage had run out,? Cecilia said. ?For the hospital it is about profits. We became nurses to heal people, not for profits.?
As an example Mar?a recounted the case of a patient with spina bifida, a serious condition of the spine, who at age twenty-one was transitioned from state benefits for children and teenagers and left with no insurance. At one point she developed a spinal infection that required expensive surgery to repair and could not afford the surgery.
?This is all tied together, the one percent is benefiting. They can afford to get the most advanced therapies. They end up living better and longer than those without insurance and that cannot afford to pay.?
?Even when patients get medical care, they often cannot afford the medication. Yet at every point someone is getting rich out of this.?
Many of the nurses are now sole supporters of their families after the layoff of their spouses and other family members.
Thursday?s protest is a reflection of that experience. ?We are in an economic crisis,? said Cecilia, ?We cannot tolerate the rich getting richer. We became nurses because we love the human race, not getting rich.?
The California Nurses Association and the National Nurses United are keeping the struggle at the level of isolated one-day protests at a few hospitals. The aim of the unions is to let off steam while they negotiate concessions with the companies.
The protest in New York and California take place in the context of a national assault on health care. Driving the attack on nurses and health care workers by hospitals and clinics across the nation is the Obama administration. As part of the health care reforms imposed by the Obama administration and the Democratic Party Congress, each of the nation?s 5700 hospitals are expected to reduce costs by an average of .6 million over the next ten years.
In California, the attack on health care is now being led by the administration of Jerry Brown, also a Democrat. Both big business parties are united in their insistence that workers pay for the budget deficit and the economic crisis. The trade unions, including the nurses unions, support Brown and are determined to keep the struggle of workers from coming into conflict with the Democratic Party and the capitalist profit system they defend.
Source: http://socialequality.com/content/california-nurses-strike-against-cutbacks-and-concessions
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John E. Lawson, Jr., on December 26, 2011, of Washington Twp. Age 62. Beloved husband of Pam (nee Connors). Devoted father of Shawn (Janneen Padlo), Josh and Katie "Davy" Lawson (Steven). Dear brother of James. Loving pop-pop of Shawn Jr., Richie, Lee Lee, Spencer and Lex. Also survived by his faithful granddogs Shamus, Chipper and Skeeter. At the request of John, services will be private. "A Life Well Lived Is Worth Remembering"
Source: http://wfmzonline.tributes.com/show/John-E.-Lawson-93016303
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In this Dec. 26, 2011 photo, Facebook website founder Mark Zuckerberg rides a water buffalo in northern resort town of Sapa in Lao Cai province, Vietnam in this picture taken. Vietnam may block its citizens from using to Facebook, but that didn't stop website founder Mark Zuckerberg from spending his vacation there. Zuckerberg spent Christmas Eve in the popular tourist destination Ha Long Bay, local official Trinh Dang Thanh says. (AP Photo/VnExpress, Le Thanh Hieu) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
In this Dec. 26, 2011 photo, Facebook website founder Mark Zuckerberg rides a water buffalo in northern resort town of Sapa in Lao Cai province, Vietnam in this picture taken. Vietnam may block its citizens from using to Facebook, but that didn't stop website founder Mark Zuckerberg from spending his vacation there. Zuckerberg spent Christmas Eve in the popular tourist destination Ha Long Bay, local official Trinh Dang Thanh says. (AP Photo/VnExpress, Le Thanh Hieu) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Vietnam may block its citizens from using Facebook, but that didn't stop website founder Mark Zuckerberg from vacationing in the communist country.
Zuckerberg spent Christmas Eve in the popular tourist destination Ha Long Bay, local official Trinh Dang Thanh says.
State-run media say Zuckerberg arrived in Vietnam on Dec. 22.
Zuckerberg spent Christmas Day at an ecolodge in the northern mountain town of Sapa and rode a buffalo, said Le Phuc Thien, deputy manager at Topas Ecolodge.
Zuckerberg, Facebook's 27-year-old CEO, founded the social networking site in 2004.
Vietnam's aggressive Internet censors block access to Facebook and other websites, but young Vietnamese easily bypass the restrictions.
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The Great North American Energy Renaissance is going full-bore, and it offers finally the prospect of true American energy independence. ?This renaissance is due to the application of relatively recent technologies, such as horizontal drilling and fracking, to hitherto commercially unviable sources of fossil fuel deposits, such as oil sands and shale rock formations.
Two recent stories -- ironically from the same source, the New York Times -- illustrate federalism in action. ?Together, they describe how two different states have reacted to this energy renaissance.
The first piece reports the continued economic transformation to North Dakota due to shale drilling operations. ?It describes how mini-communities are springing up on the Northern Prairie to house the (primarily male) workers. ?The story talks about two such "man camps," each housing around 3,700 workers.
The problem, you see, is that North Dakota -- with an unemployment rate of 3.5%, the lowest in the country and less than half the national average -- has so many fossil fuel energy jobs open that men are flooding in from elsewhere in the nation, and flooding in so quickly that the housing for them has to be cobbled together on short notice. ?These "man camps" are usually made from prefab modular buildings.
The story reports that the explosive growth of the man camps is not surprisingly putting stress on the state's infrastructure and environment.
There are several North Dakota counties in which an amazing one third of the population lives in man camps. ?Two such counties have already put a moratorium on any more worker camps.
As the old saying has it, there can be too much of a good thing. ?Here, the good thing is high-paying blue-collar work. ?In the oil industry, many of these jobs pay well over $100,000 a year. ?Men are moving in so fast that motel rooms are booked to the hilt, rents have gone up fourfold, and the man camps are packed. ?The North Dakota cops have to warn wannabe workers not to try living in their cars in the infamous North Plains winters.
All of this is reminiscent of the frontier days, when gold-hunters would flood an area, looking for the elusive metal. ?There are the occasional fights, and many of the man camps have to outlaw guns, booze, and -- well, how to put it? -- "unauthorized women." ?But luckily, twelve-hour shifts at physically demanding work tend to keep the men from becoming too obstreperous.
The second story concerns New York. ?New York State -- famous for its hordes of "progressive liberals" who claim to worry so much about the working class -- could also be economically humming by creating those high-paying blue-collar jobs so desperately needed in this "he-cession." ?It could also be doing its part in freeing this country from its reliance on foreign sources of energy -- from oil produced in places such as the Middle East and Venezuela to solar panels produced in China.
But no -- of course, New York's environmentalists are up in arms about fracking (and every other method of energy production that actually works -- i.e., reliably produces low-cost energy). ?This has led to quite a battle, indeed.
Governor Cuomo's administration is being bombarded from both sides as it comes up to the crunch point when it must decide whether to allow gas production by fracking. ?Energy companies are pouring money into lobbying firms, ad agencies, and campaign war chests, hoping to sway Albany to start approving such operations. ?The environmentalist groups are spending tons of money the same way, as well as deploying their myrmidons on the streets to demonstrate, all to get the state government to refuse any permits for drilling.
The warring sides seem to be mirrored in Gov. Cuomo's very soul. ?He plays the New Deal Democrat who wants jobs for the proletariat, but he also plays the New-Left Hippie Environmentalist oh-so-concerned about the ecosystem. ?He has positively begged both sides to be moderate, saying, "I know that the temperature is high. ?We have a process. ?Let's get the facts. ?Let the science and the facts make the determination, not emotion and not politics."
Now, I know that the prospect of a progressive pleading for politics and emotion to be put aside is on the face of it risible. ?Progressive liberal governance is all about machine politics and cheap emotional appeals. ?However, I am moved by this spectacle to make a suggestion -- one that I think will help the governors of blue states fearful of allowing energy development because of the anti-development environmentalists. ?However, those governors will hate me for mentioning it.
Let's start with an observation. ?The states of this nation divide into two groups: the energy-makers and the energy-takers. ?The environmentalists dominate the politics of the energy-taking states, such as New York and my own wacky state of California. ?The energy-takers love the fact that they can import most of their energy, all the while keeping their environments pristine. ?In that sense, they have the best of all worlds. ?The energy-makers, such as Alaska, Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, West Virginia, and now North Dakota, freely allow the exploitation of their fossil fuel resources, and bear disproportionately the costs of such production. ?But they are also able to prosper from it as well, as shown by their generally lower unemployment rates and more robust economies.
I think that it would help prompt the self-indulgent energy-takers be more supportive of the nation -- more patriotic, in the truest sense of the term -- if the federal government eliminated the state tax deduction for federal taxes. ?After all, the governors of those states are already facing resistance to higher taxes. ?If the taxpayers of those states could no longer write off the state taxes, those taxpayers would become even more adamantly opposed to higher taxes.
Taking away the deduction for state taxes would thus force the "progressive" states into a dilemma: cut programs, or enhance revenues by increasing economic growth (which would have to involve easing regulations). ?But the former option would cost the progressive politicians a lot of support from their base.
I make this suggestion with a shudder: I hate to think of how much my own taxes would rise from such a change.? But my sense of justice leads me to advocate it.? It is simply unfair that the high-state tax states can force the lower-tax states to pick up much of the tab for the former's underperforming economies.
Depriving New York and California residents in particular of that deduction would help motivate them to pay more attention to the narcissistic anti-energy, anti-growth policies their leaders have chosen. ?It would help motivate the ordinary citizenry fight the environmentalists. ?New York could do like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere and let its shale reserves be tapped. ?California could do like Texas, Alaska, and Louisiana and let its offshore reserves be more thoroughly exploited, by at least allowing exploration for new reserves natural gas. ?But the political leaders in both states are largely opposed as things stand now.
The best way to make eliminating the state tax deduction possible would be by moving to a flat tax, where federal tax rates are lowered on the upper brackets in exchange for the elimination of all deductions. ?As Steve Forbes can tell you, this is a tough sell, but it at least has a chance.
Philosopher Gary Jason is a senior editor for Liberty Unbound and the author of the new book Dangerous Thoughts (available at GaryJasonBooks.com).
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"At least two relatively senior al-Qaida figures have already made their way to Libya , with others intercepted en route, raising fears that north Africa could become a new 'theatre of jihad' in coming months," The Guardian quoted officials as saying.
"A group of very experienced figures from north Africa left camps in Afghanistan's (north-eastern ) Kunar province where they have been based for several years and travelled back across the Middle East," one source said. "Some got stopped but a few got through."
The move to shift the base to Africa came after killing of senior al-Qaida members in an intense campaign of air strikes involving missiles launched from unmanned drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan , an official said.
After Osama's killing in May in Pakistan's Abbottabad , many other high ranking leaders of the group have also been killed. The paper said that British officials believe that a "last push" in 2012 is likely to definitively destroy Qaida's remaining "handful of the key players" .
"It is unclear whether the moves from west Asia to north Africa are prompted by a desire for greater security ... or part of a strategic attempt to exploit aftermath of the Arab spring," the paper said.
Source: http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2Euo0UylDS1Uu/story01.htm
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SANAA (Reuters) ? Backers of a Yemeni Islamist party that signed on to a plan to nudge the president from power scuffled with members of a Shi'ite rebel movement frozen out of the deal in the capital Sanaa Tuesday, witnesses said.
They said loyalists of the Islah party traded blows with clubs and volleys of stones with members of the Houthi rebel movement, in the Sanaa square that has seen nearly a year of protests aimed at forcing the president from power.
Activists said at least 20 people were injured during the scuffles, which a representative of the Houthis said erupted when Islah backers attacked a tent they had set up to denounce the deal to edge President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office.
That deal - crafted by Yemen's richer neighbors, and backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution and Washington - offers Saleh immunity from prosecution in exchange for handing power to his deputy, who is to work with a government including Islah and other opposition parties before a February presidential vote.
Saleh had backed out of the deal several times before signing it last month in Saudi Arabia, which shares U.S. fears that the struggle over Saleh's fate could descend into civil war and chaos that strengthens al Qaeda's wing in Yemen.
The deal did not include the Houthis, members of the Shi'ite Zaydi sect, whom Saleh launched an abortive campaign to crush - which also saw Saudi military intervention in 2009 - in the northwestern Saada province bordering Saudi Arabia.
U.N. Yemen envoy Jamal Benomar, who is attempting to shore up the transition deal, visited Saada this month and met with leaders of the Houthis, who have in recent months fought Sunni Islamists espousing Salafi doctrines that are influential in Saudi Arabia and condemn Shi'ites as heretics.
Washington is weighing a request for a visa from Saleh, who said he planned a U.S. visit Saturday, hours after his forces killed nine people demanding he be tried for the deaths of hundreds of protesters during 11 months of protests against him.
He told reporters his trip would include medical tests. Saleh suffered burns and other injuries in an assassination attempt in June that capped fighting between his forces and those of a tribal faction influential in Islah.
The top "counter-terrorism" official in Washington - which wages a campaign of drone strikes against alleged al Qaeda members in Yemen and assassinated Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, that way earlier this year - urged Saleh's deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi Sunday to show restraint with protests.
Any successor to Saleh would face multiple, overlapping conflicts including renewed separatist sentiment in the south, which fought a civil war with Saleh's north in 1994 after four turbulent years of formal union.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Joseph Logan)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/wl_nm/us_yemen
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Image: AP ? |
But if you want to make it a great device, you need to hit up the App Store as soon as you've set up the basics of the iPhone.
Apple has over 500,000 iPhone apps, so visiting the App Store for the first time can be a daunting experience.
Lucky for you, we exist. After years of using an iPhone, and testing dozens of apps, we've come up with a list of the best apps.
If you just got a brand new iPhone, or you've had your iPhone for years, this collection of apps will turn a very good gadget into a truly great one.
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Just saw a couple in Starbucks: guy had an iPhone, girl had a flip phone. Can such a love survive? :/ 
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Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., signs an autograph during a campaign stop at at Tangleberries in Centerville, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., signs an autograph during a campaign stop at at Tangleberries in Centerville, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., listens to a question during a campaign stop at Lodge Pizza & Steakhouse in Corydon, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to workers and local residents after touring the TPI Iowa wind blade manufacturing facility, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry signs an autograph for Jeanne Dietrich, of Omaha, Neb., after speaking to local residents and workers at the TPI Iowa wind blade manufacturing facility, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? It's been a different presidential race in Iowa this year ? quieter.
Campaign headquarters have hardly been buzzing with activity, unlike the around-the-clock nature of past contests. Candidates have barely visited the state, compared with years when most all but moved here. And they have largely refrained from building the grass-roots armies of yesteryear, in favor of more modest on-the-ground teams of paid staffers and volunteers.
The final rush of campaigning here gets under way Monday, just a week before the Jan. 3 caucuses, and, to be sure, there will be a flurry of candidate appearances and get-out-the-vote efforts all week.
But that will belie the reality of much of 2011, a year marked by a less aggressive personal courtship of Iowans in a campaign that, instead, has largely gravitated around a series of 13 nationally televised debates, a crush of television ads and interviews on media outlets watched by many Republican primary voters, like Fox News Channel.
"We just haven't had as much face time," Republican chairwoman Trudy Caviness in Wapello County said. "That's why we're so undecided."
Indeed, people here simply don't know the Republican presidential candidates that well. And it's a big reason why the contest in Iowa is so volatile and why the caucus outcome could end up being more representative of the mood of national Republicans than in past years when GOP activists here have gone it alone by launching an unlikely front-runner to the top of the field.
With a week to go, the state of the race in Iowa generally mirrors the race from coast to coast.
Polls show Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, having lost ground and Texas Rep. Ron Paul having risen, with both still in contention with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the head of the pack. All the others competing in Iowa ? Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum ? are trailing.
But, in a sign that the contest is anyone's to win, most polls have shown most Republican caucusgoers undecided and willing to change their minds before the contest in a state where the vote typically breaks late in the campaign year.
There are a slew of reasons why the Iowa campaign is a much more muted affair than in 2008 ? marked by the iconic clash of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who together employed almost 300 staff in Iowa and held blockbuster rallies. This year, there is no contested Democratic primary, given that President Barack Obama has no serious challenger. Only Republicans are competing, and those candidates are approaching the state differently, both visiting and hiring less. Also, like it did everywhere else, the race here started slowly ? months later than usual ? as a slew of GOP politicians weighed candidacies, only to abort White House bids.
Long-time Republican activists here, who often joke that they like to meet the candidates several times before deciding, have barely seen the candidates once, much less at all, and no campaign has more than 20 paid staff in the state.
All that's partly a consequence of how technology has changed both the political and media environments in recent years. Campaigns now can more precisely ? and cheaply ? target their pitches to voters from afar, sending personalized e-mails and YouTube video messages from the candidates to voters directly, and more campaign outreach is being handled by volunteers and through central national websites. And voters, themselves, now can go online and find information about the candidates without having to wait for the White House hopeful to show up in the town square.
"Caucuses don't exist in a vacuum. They're not the same every time," said John Stineman, a West Des Moines Republican activist who ran Steve Forbes 2000 Iowa campaign. "But everything else has changed. Why wouldn't the caucuses change?"
Part of the change has been driven by Romney's approach to the state.
The nominal GOP front-runner for most of the year, Romney has been far less aggressive in cultivating support in Iowa than in his failed bid of 2008. He's only spent 10 days in the state this year, compared to 77 days four years ago, in an attempt to lower expectations in the leadoff state where evangelical conservatives have harbored doubts about Romney in light of his Mormon faith and changed positions on some social issues.
Paul, the Texas congressman, has been focused more on building a national following than being a one-state candidate.
Gingrich only became a serious contender in the state a few weeks ago. And, until recently, he didn't have the money or manpower to launch a full-scale Iowa campaign, meaning more sporadic visits and a smaller team. He's struggled to reach all parts of the state more than once; it was just last week that he visited Ottumwa, seat of the county Caviness represents and a medium-size Iowa city uniquely situated in the southeast with its own small media market.
Likewise, Perry has not been to Marshalltown, a central Iowa GOP hub about the same size as Ottumwa and home of the state-run veterans home. It would seem like a natural spot for Perry, a former Air Force officer who has sought veterans support. But he also hasn't visited Fort Dodge, also another mid-size Iowa city in north-central Iowa on the way to heavily Republican northwest Iowa.
Those who have been struggling to gain traction ? and who lack the money of better-funded, better-known rivals ? are turning to old-fashioned retail campaigning in hopes of wooing voters the traditional way.
Bachmann is in the midst of a bus tour that has her crisscrossing the state. And Santorum, who never has broken out of the back of the pack, is betting that a year of one-on-one campaigning will pay off in the end.
Barb Livingston is proof that, for all the changes, there's still something to be said for the personal approach. She has struggled all year to find a candidate to back and is basing her decision on a personal impression she had ? except that impression was established four years ago, riding around Marshall County with Romney.
"When push comes to shove, I had a chance to meet him and travel around with," said Livingston, a former Marshall County GOP chairwoman. "He's someone personally I connected with."
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They?re fired! Donald Trump has officially left the Republican Party, changing his voter registration to ?unaffiliated.? An aide said that Trump switched ?in order to preserve his right to run for president as an independent if he?s not satisfied with who the Republicans nominate.? The aide added that Trump was ?disgusted? with the GOP?s handling of the payroll-tax-cut extension.
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SEOUL, South Korea ? More than 21,000 North Koreans now live in South Korea. For many, the news of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death stirred mixed emotions.
Several interviewed in Seoul by The Associated Press described a burst of joy upon hearing that Kim had died, but also a surge of unease over the fate of relatives and friends and even a shadow of homesickness.
There was celebration ? one man had drinks with a friend_ and hope for a better future for their homeland. For one woman, there was sadness as she envisioned little girls cramming to memorize the Kims' feats.
South Korea is no paradise for the defectors either; facing prejudice and lacking job skills, they rarely feel welcomed by their capitalist brethren.
Here, in their own words, are what three of them had to say:
___
THE PAINTER
"I felt rather calm after hearing of Kim Jong Il's death," said Song Byeok, 42, a painter who learned his art drawing propaganda posters in North Korea. "I thought to myself about him: 'You, too, are human in the end.'
"It was his destiny. He couldn't avoid it. ... He was praised like a god, but in the end, he was only a human who fell like an autumn leaf."
Desperate for food in 2000, Song and his father tried to cross the river into China ? not to defect but just to get something to eat from relatives on the Chinese side.
He still believed Kim Jong Il was a good leader.
However, when his father was swept away by the current and drowned, border guards ignored Song's pleas to help rescue him; instead they beat Song up and detained him. The experience convinced him to leave for good in 2002.
"I thought to myself after hearing Kim died that a wind of democratization may finally blow in North Korea," he said. "Reforms may come because Kim Jong Il has died.
"Kim Jong Un is young and he may lean toward reforms. But I still think he may not last long because he's too inexperienced. He only had a year or so to be groomed as successor.
"It may have been better for him if Kim Jong Il had lasted longer."
Song Byeok is the name he paints under and is widely known by in South Korea; he refused to divulge his real name for fear of retaliation against relatives and friends still in North Korea.
___
THE STUDENT
"I believed North Korea was the best country in the world," said Lee Hyeon-seo, who was 13 when late President Kim Il Sung, father of Kim Jong Il, died in 1994.
"I really believed in the theory of self-reliance," she said.
"When Kim Il Sung died, I saw many foreign guests crying on TV, which made me feel like Kim Il Sung was a god," she said. "But as days passed, I felt I wasn't as sad as I was supposed to when I stood in front of his statue.
"Everybody was crying but I couldn't cry, so I dabbed my face with my spit. It was a hot day, and some girl fainted and was sent to a hospital."
Lee, now 30, fled the North in the mid-1990s and lived for a decade in China before moving to South Korea in 2008. Now she studies Chinese at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.
"I remember the propaganda education vividly even though I was a girl," she said. "In North Korea, excelling at math or English is less important than being good at the history of Kim Il Sung's revolutionary steps. Now I know it's fake, but we had to cram as much of the history in our heads as possible. We struggled to get high marks on the subject in school.
"I used to believe unification was a pipe dream. But now it may be possible. I'm hearing from friends that they'd like to be invited to my house in North Korea if the Koreas are reunified."
___
THE ACTIVIST
"I know a person's death is usually something that shouldn't be celebrated, but this time it was completely different," said Kim Seung-cheol, 50.
"Kim's death meant that North Korea would start changing," he said. "It was a hopeful sign for a change."
Kim went out with a friend to celebrate over sausages and "soju," a popular Korean liquor. They laughed with joy.
When he defected 20 years ago, he left behind his wife and son.
"If unification happens, I would like to find out if my son is still alive," he said. "If I find him, I will ask him to hit me for leaving him.
"And if I'm reunited with my wife, I will sing a song out of joy. But I have to ask forgiveness of her, because I've married another woman here in South Korea.
"I've pretty much given up on trying to find my son. It's important he be alive though," he said. "I only hope he is not living a miserable life as a vagabond.
"I hope South Korea can start engaging North Korea. A conciliatory gesture may be needed to open up North Korea. Seoul should send a message to Pyongyang that South Korea wants to go together with the new leadership in North Korea."
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CHICAGO ? As Americans watch yet another political drama play out on Capitol Hill ? this time over whether to extend the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits ? they have a question for Congress: Can't you all just get along? For once?
"It's like, `Kids, kids, kids,'" said Brenda Bissett, a lawyer from Santa Clarita, Calif., as she waited for coffee Wednesday at a Starbuck's in downtown Los Angeles. "It's just frustrating that there's no compromise ... I do it all the time."
Around the country, people of different backgrounds, incomes and political leanings say they're angry and downright disgusted by the posturing in Washington after the House rejected a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed by the Senate, then both chambers adjourned for the holidays.
If lawmakers don't act by Jan. 1, payroll taxes will jump almost $20 a week, or $1,000 a year, for a worker earning $50,000, and as much as $82 a week, or $4,272 a year, for a household with two high-paid workers. What's more, about 6 million people could lose unemployment benefits, and Medicare payments to doctors would be slashed.
"It's just another smack in our face for the working public. We just can't get ahead," said Mike Pryor, a construction worker from Aurora, Ill. "It seems like everything that Congress is doing is always against us ... I mean, I'm at a loss for words, and I just can't understand it, why they have to keep arguing."
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama urged congressional leaders to return to Washington to pass a short-term payroll tax cut extension before New Year's Day, then work later on a full-year measure.
Leaders from both chambers say they want the other side to return, too, though they still disagree on whether it should be to negotiate a two-month extension or a one-year deal favored by House Republicans.
Meanwhile, the public can only wait and wonder ? and stew.
At Augie & Ray's, a popular eatery in East Hartford, Conn., the consensus among several diners Wednesday was that the partisan bickering was eroding their already shaky faith in Congress. To some, that was just as frustrating as the idea that their paychecks could shrink.
"It's us, the average Joe, that's getting caught in the middle," said Ray Ramsey, a retired utility meter technician who works part-time for a medical-supply company.
Fellow diner Richard Longo, who owns a building-maintenance business, said he worries about the effect of the taxes on himself and his 30-plus employees. But he thinks there's a lot of blame to go around.
"I truly believe that if the sides were reversed, if we had a Republican president and a Democratic Congress, we'd still be going through the same thing," he said.
A payroll tax increase would come at a vulnerable time for some people who already have been affected by falling property values and, in some cases, state tax increases.
Some expected to spend less on non-essential things, like dining out. And others said they were willing to pay more if it means reducing the deficit. But almost all agreed that the partisan acrimony and 11th-hour crises in Washington are getting old.
"It seems they want to bring down everything to the last minute and then figure it out," said David Kaiser, an institutional researcher at Miami Dade College in Florida, who said a tax increase wouldn't affect him significantly.
Kaiser wanted "some way to send that message to them: That's not what they're hired for."
Mike Raney, a maintenance and repair worker from Chicago, said he blames the stalemate on "misguided ideals" among politicians of both parties.
"I'd like to say they mean well, but we're talking about politicians," Raney said as he ate a hamburger at a McDonald's in Chicago's Loop. "It's very frustrating, especially for people who are just getting by. I mean, it's not like I'm making millions of dollars, but it's affecting other people a lot harder than it's affecting me."
The tax cut lowered the Social Security tax on incomes of up to $106,800 from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. It's meant a maximum savings of $2,136 for an individual.
Without a deal, Americans would begin 2012 facing a tax increase just as an election year begins. And many say the bickering has more to do with elections than economic ideals.
"The way I see it is that the Republicans want Obama to be a one-term president," said James Edwards, an Amtrak conductor from Hamden, Conn., who was in Boston on Wednesday. "They are taking their patriotism and throwing it away, and they are hurting the middle class. They want to make sure that America is hurting while this president is sitting so they won't vote for him in 2012."
Anaiah Spencer, a property manager from Los Angeles, said the deadlock is damaging people's faith in lawmakers.
"I have never seen a government this divisive," Spencer said. "In the end, we both end up broke, and we wind up with an entire country of angry citizens who don't know who to turn to."
Greg Kirksey, a pastor in Little Rock, Ark., said a payroll tax increase would be little more than an inconvenience for him, but others are "talking about whether to buy dried beans or ground beef to get their protein."
"But I'm afraid because it's a political year ... I'm not thinking anybody's really got the guts to make the hard decisions," he said. "They just keep putting a Band-Aid on, putting a Band-Aid on, kicking the can down the road a little farther."
___
Associated Press writers Christine Armario in Miami, Shannon Dininny in Yakima, Wash., Robert Jablon in Los Angeles, Steve LeBlanc in Boston, Ben Neary in Cheyenne, Wyo., Jeannie Nuss in Little Rock, Ark., Stephanie Reitz in East Hartford, Conn., and Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky.; and AP videographer Robert Ray in Aurora, Ill., contributed to this story.
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