Washington State Bans ‘Penmanship,’ ‘Freshman,’ As Sexist

Washington State Bans ‘Penmanship,’ ‘Freshman,’ As Sexist:
Washington state's governor signed into law on Monday the final piece of a six-year effort to rewrite state laws using gender-neutral vocabulary, replacing terms such as "fisherman" and "freshman" with "fisher" and "first-year student."

Lawmakers have passed a series of bills since 2007 to root out gender bias from Washington statutes, though a 1983 state mandate required that all laws be written in gender-neutral terms unless a specification of gender was intended.

"This was a much larger effort than I had envisioned. 
Mankind means man and woman," said Democrat state Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles of Seattle.

The new gender-neutral references, for example, include "journey-level plumber" instead of "journeyman plumber," "handwriting" in place of "penmanship," and "signal operator" for "signalman."

"There's no good reason for keeping our legal terms anachronistic and with words that do not respect our current contemporary times," Kohl-Welles, the 475-page bill's sponsor, told Reuters.

Several words, however, aren't easy to replace, said Kyle Thiessen, the state's code reviser, who heads up the 40-staff Washington Code Reviser's Office agency.

The state likely won't change the words "airmen" and "seaman," for example, because of objections by the state's Washington Military Department, he said.

Civil engineering terms such as "man hole" and "man lock," also will not be changed because no common-sense substitutes could easily be found, Thiessen said.

Record Number of Households on Food Stamps-- 1 out of Every 5

Record Number of Households on Food Stamps-- 1 out of Every 5 | CNS News:
"As CNSNews.com previously reported, food stamp rolls in America recently surpassed the population of Spain.
A record number 47,692,896 Americans are now enrolled in the program and the cost of food stamp fraud has more than doubled in just three years."

» Lenders Come Out Against 2nd Amendment

» Lenders Come Out Against 2nd Amendment » News -- GOPUSA:
"Some of the nation's largest lenders don't finance gun purchases. Wells Fargo stopped the practice in 2004 for business reasons, company spokeswoman Lisa Westermann said.
Citigroup doesn't finance firearm loans, says spokeswoman Liz Fogarty.
Bank of America would not comment on whether it provides consumer financing for firearms.
GE Capital's new policy affects only retailers that sell firearms exclusively and not general merchandise stores, such as Walmart, that sell guns and other products.
Some stores have changed their product mix in recent years to just firearms, and the new policy will cut off financing at those shops, Wilkerson says."

Ex-airport boss Turkia Mullin awarded $712,000 for being wrongly fired

Ex-airport boss Turkia Mullin awarded $712,000 for being wrongly fired | Crain's Detroit Business:
"An arbitrator has awarded about $712,000 to the former Detroit Metropolitan Airport chief executive, saying that a county board wrongly fired her.
The Wayne County airport board fired Turkia Mullin in October 2011 during a dispute over a $200,000 severance payment that County Executive Robert Ficano made to her when she left her previous job as the county's economic development director. She later repaid the money.
WXYZ-TV says arbitrator Paul Teranes also ordered the airport authority to pay Mullin's lawyers. It says he denied Mullin's request for punitive damages."

Big Brother Has A New Face, And It's Your Boss

Big Brother Has A New Face, And It's Your Boss - Forbes:
"Recently, the CVS Caremark Corporation began requiring employees to disclose personal health information (including weight, blood pressure, and body fat levels) or else pay an annual $600 fine.
Workers must make this information available to the company’s employee “Wellness Program” and sign a form stating that they’re doing so voluntarily.
CVS argues this will help workers “take more responsibility for improving their health.”
At one level, this makes a certain sense.
Because the company is paying for their employees’ health insurance, they naturally prefer healthier workers.
But at a deeper level, CVS’ action demonstrates a growing problem with our current system of employer-provided health insurance.
If our bosses must pay for our health care, they will inevitably seek greater control over our lifestyles."

Congress, Fearing 'Brain Drain,' Seeks to Opt Out of Participating in Obamacare's Exchanges

Congress, Fearing 'Brain Drain,' Seeks to Opt Out of Participating in Obamacare's Exchanges - Forbes:
"As Obamacare was winding its way through the Senate in 2009, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) slipped in an amendment requiring that members of Congress, and their staff, enroll in Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges.
The idea was simple: that if Congress was going to impose Obamacare upon the country, it should have to experience what it is imposing firsthand. But now, word comes that Congress is quietly seeking to rescind that provision of the law, because members fear that staffers who face higher insurance costs will leave the Hill."

Michigan families could lose welfare cash if kids miss school under advancing legislation

Michigan families could lose welfare cash if kids miss school under advancing legislation | MLive.com:
"House Bill 4388, introduced by Republican state Rep. Al Pscholka of Stevensville, would codify a policy adopted by the Department of Human Services in October regarding eligibility for the family independence program, which provides an average cash grant of approximately $400 to more than 45,000 needy families each month.
DHS has already removed a handful of families from the program due to child truancy.
The legislation would formally prohibit the cash assistance for families that have a child between the age of 6 and 16 who fails to comply with mandatory school attendance requirements."

Patrick administration refuses to release Tsarnaev brothers' records

Patrick administration refuses to release Tsarnaev brothers' records | Boston Herald
The Patrick administration clamped down the lid yesterday on Herald requests for details of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s government benefits, citing the dead terror mastermind’s right to privacy.

Across the board, state agencies flatly refused to provide information about the taxpayer-funded lifestyle for the 26-year-old man and his brother and accused accomplice Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19.

On EBT card status or spending, state welfare spokesman Alec Loftus would only say Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his wife and 3-year-old daughter received benefits that ended in 2012. He declined further comment.

On unemployment compensation, labor department spokesman Kevin Franck refused to say whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev ever collected, saying it was “confidential and not a matter of public record.”

On Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s college aid, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth spokesman Robert Connolly said, “It is our position — and I believe the accepted position in higher education — that student records including academic records and financial records (including financial aid) cannot under federal law be released without a student’s consent.”

On cellphones, the Federal Communications Commission would not say whether either brother had a government-paid cellphone, also citing privacy laws.

On housing, Cambridge officials and the family’s landlord ducked questions on whether the brothers were ever on Section 8 assistance.

The Herald reported yesterday that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his wife and 3-year-old daughter collected welfare until 2012 and that both Tamerlan and Dzhokhar received benefits through their parents “for a limited portion” of the time after they came to the U.S., which was around 2002.

However, the Department of Transitional Assistance wouldn’t release information about how long or how much they received.

It remains unclear how the accused bomber brothers financed their heartless attacks on the marathon.

The administration was slammed by a Democratic congressman who insisted the public has a right to know how taxpayers were underwriting the accused jihadist Tsarnaevs.

“It’s certainly relevant information that should be made public,” U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch told the Herald. “There’s a national security interest No. 1. Secondly, there’s also a public interest in finding out whether these individuals were able to exploit the system and get benefits they weren’t entitled to.”

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lies hospitalized and facing capital charges that include using a weapon of mass destruction that killed three people and injured 260 near the Boston Marathon finish line.

Taxpayers — already on the hook for Tsarnaev’s court-appointed attorneys in the terror plot — continue to pay his mounting medical bills at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The public also paid for Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s attorney when the Russian national successfully fought criminal charges in 2009 that he battered a former girlfriend.

DEMING: The real deniers of climate change

DEMING: The real deniers of climate change - Washington Times:
"The Northern Hemisphere is experiencing unusually cold weather.
Snow cover last December was the greatest since satellite monitoring began in 1966.
The United Kingdom had the coldest March weather in 50 years, and there were more than a thousand record low temperatures in the United States.
The Irish meteorological office reported that March “temperatures were the lowest on record nearly everywhere.”
Spring snowfall in Europe was also high.
In Moscow, the snow depth was the highest in 134 years of observation.
In Kiev, authorities had to bring in military vehicles to clear snow from the streets."

Outcry erupts over 1% pay raise proposed for military

Outcry erupts over 1% pay raise proposed for military | Detroit Free Press | freep.com:

Military families and their advocates are battling an Obama administration proposal to limit troops' pay raises to 1% in 2014, the lowest increase in half a century.

The raise comes at a time when forces will still be fighting in Afghanistan.

"We're sending the wrong message to the ones who have worked the hardest in our country by the multiple deployments and family separations," says Michael Hayden, deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America.

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden, no relation to Michael Hayden, said Obama is committed to "a sacred trust" with military members, but needed to reduce the pay raise, partly to offset congressional refusal to cut spending on "outdated weapons system."

Elizabeth Robbins, a Pentagon spokeswoman, called the limit on pay increases a "tough decision." She said the Defense Department must pay for proper training and support, and "fair compensation that recognizes the sacrifices they (troops) make for our country ... while adhering to the budget constraints it is facing."

Pentagon officials briefing military family representatives framed the 1% increase as a trade-off — "They believe servicemembers and families would be willing to give something on the size of pay raises to ensure funding for the mission," the National Military Family Association explained to members on its website.

Sequester, tight budgets means DHS buying less ammunition

Sequester, tight budgets means DHS buying less ammunition - Washington Times:
"In 2012, the department used 88.3 million rounds for training and 27.9 million rounds for operational purposes. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, used the most ammunition at nearly 38 million rounds, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement used more than 28 million rounds.
Homeland Security said that by buying in bulk ahead of time, it has been able to save money — $1.7 billion since 2005.
The department currently has seven active contracts that could produce 674.1 million rounds of ammunition, with the biggest being a five-year contract for 450 million rounds, worth $110 million.
Actual use of guns in the line of duty is limited. Jon Adler, representing the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, says in his prepared testimony that there is an average of one shooting incident a week for federal officers or agents. "

Congress Prepares $100 Million Bipartisan Flu Tax

Congress Prepares $100 Million Bipartisan Flu Tax | The Weekly Standard:
"The legislation would exact a 75¢ per dose tax on any "vaccine against seasonal influenza."
Given that the Centers for Disease Control projects that 135 million doses of flu vaccine will be used this year, the government's take on flu vaccines alone is over $100,000,000 per year."