Dutch children could have three or more parents | McBlog

AFP 24 Oct 2012
Dutch kids may soon be able to have three or more mothers or fathers after the government said it was seeking to enshrine parenting rights for the Netherlands? 25,000 children in gay families.

?The justice ministry is going to investigate and see what the possibilities are for recognising three parents or more per family,? ministry spokesman Wiebe Alkema told AFP on Wednesday.

The left-wing Green party, but also the Liberal VVD and the Labour PvdA parties that won last month?s parliamentary election, requested the report with a view to amending a lesbian parenting bill currently before parliament.

The Netherlands was the first country to legalise gay marriage in 2001 and when a gay or lesbian couple has a child, another parent is by biological necessity involved.

But, said Green MP Liesbeth van Tongeren, it is also essential to recognise the rights of non-biological parents, including step-parents.

?Currently parenthood in the eyes of the law is almost always the consequence of biological parenthood,? her party said in a statement, stressing that ?this does not represent the diversity of families in the Netherlands.?

?Often enough, the father of a child with lesbian parents also plays a role in the life of the child,? she said.
http://www.afp.com/en/node/616941

Source: http://bobmccoskrie.com/?p=5962

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Video: Storm could impact early voting

>>> some folks riding the waves here along the virginia beach . the storm surge now moving in this area. this monster storm is an october surprise , the likes of which we have never seen before, the closing days of a presidential race , it's already having an affect on both sides. peter alexander is traveling with the romney campaign tonight. he's in marion, ohio. peter good evening.

>> reporter: the storm has already shaken up this race between the candidates, the running mates and their wives, more than a dozen events have been cancelled. in the campaign's waning days, president obama is forced to juggle dual responsibilities, ensuring to the nation's readiness for hurricane sandy while campaigning. asked if it would affect early morning .

>> we don't anticipate that at this point.

>> reporter: the storm is already having an impact on some early voting , a key to success for many campaigns. both campaigns today announce a halting-

>> i know that right now some people in the country are a little nervous about a storm about to hit the coast and our thought and prayers are with the people who will find themselveses in harm's way.

>> meanwhile both campaigns are touting a string of endosment.

>> reporter: and governor romney is scheduled to arrive at this event in marion ohio. the president is already en route to florida, that's a day earlier than planned, so he can be present for an event scheduled for tomorrow.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49590379/

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Intramural Sports Under New Management, Expects To Have Great ...

Sports

By Paul Dewhurst
Contributor

Thursday, October 25th, 2012

Photographer:?Joseph Geha

Volleyball players in the middle of a rally on Monday.

CSU East Bay students had their sneakers tied tight in anticipation for the opening of intramural sports Monday night, as it opened under new management and with new goals for this year.

The Recreation and Wellness Center will host five sporting leagues in hopes of promoting student activity, friendly competition and skills development for CSUEB students.

Co-ed volleyball and basketball will be offered, as well as competitive leagues for both sports.

Newly appointed sports and activities coordinator, Corey Gazay, said he expects to unfold a memorable year of intramural sports.

?I definitely have high expectations,? said Gazay. ?I want to build excitement on campus and have intramural sports [be] the thing to do on weekdays.?

Gazay, a former graduate assistant for Competitive Sports at the University of Florida hasn?t wasted a moment since being hired.

Gazay has already implemented new ?3 vs. 3? leagues for both basketball and volleyball, with volleyball being the only one available for the fall quarter.

?The new 3 vs. 3 leagues cater to students who do not have anything going on in the afternoon,? Gazay explains. ?It allows students who have a long day of classes to break up hours of studying and play the sport they love.?

Gazay is focused on promoting a simple sign-up-and-register process for students who are eager to participate.

?The only thing a student needs to do is have a membership to the RAW and post a five dollar team fee to play,? Gazay said. ?If the student does not sign up the first week of the quarter, it is never too late for them to contact me to be placed on a team.?

Gazay?s focus on a simple registration process for intramural sports accommodates students like Omarr Mclean, a junior kinesiology major who said he can?t wait to get back on the hardwood and play basketball with his team ?Cash Money.?

?Basketball for intramurals gives us students something to look forward to while on campus,? says McLean.

McLean, a second year participant of intramural basketball, commends the Recreation and Wellness Center for providing leagues available for students.

?Intramural basketball has taught me how to have an appreciation for the sports we have offered to us on campus,? he explained.

From one court to the next, Rachel Alvarez, a kinesiology major, retreats to the volleyball court for some peace and relinquishment from the everyday stresses of classes.

?It helps me stay relaxed and get somewhat of a work out in regardless of the sport,? says Alvarez. ?Mentally, it allows students to get a break from schoolwork.?

Alvarez credits the league for bringing students together for friendly competition, giving them an opportunity that would not be afforded anywhere else.

?I am looking forward to the competitive aspect of volleyball,? says Alvarez. ?But playing with my friends on the same team takes off that competitive edge and makes it more fun.?

The volleyball leagues offered have brought in a crowd very pleased and Associated Students Inc. (ASI) President Jerry Chang is even participating with some of his fellow ASI delegates.

The experiences of Mclean and Alvarez complement Gazay?s vision and commitment to providing a memorable sporting experience for all students. This speaks to the future direction of intramural sports and its goal of keeping students seeking more competitions.

?After students play, I want them to ask me ?Whens the next game??? explains Gazay. ?Once people come to the games and see what it?s about, we have them hooked.?

Source: http://thepioneeronline.com/sports/2012/10/intramural-sports-under-new-management-expects-to-have-great-year/

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Web Privacy ? Why Care? | http://blog.hisoftware.com

October 25, 2012 ? Irena Mroz ?

There are 17 reasons why you should care about web privacy and the collection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). These are to name a few:

1. Names
2. Addresses (all geographic subdivisions including street address, city, county, zip code)
3. Dates (all elements except years related to an individual (including birth date or date of death for example)
4. Telephone numbers
5. Fax numbers
6. Email addresses
7. Social Security numbers
8. Bank account numbers
9. Debit/credit card numbers
10. License numbers
11. Any vehicle or other device serial numbers
12. Web URLs
13. Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
14. Fingers or voice prints
15. Photographic images
16. Any other characteristic that could uniquely identify the individual
17. Hospital records including dates of admission

As a Web user, you expect that the organizations you give this information to will keep it safe. As the owner of a website, you are required by law to keep this information safe for your users.

While many companies recognize the importance of an online privacy risk management strategy, many of those companies get a sense of false security by scanning their websites for privacy issues once a year. Or even worse, only when the site is first developed and implemented. Websites should be tested for compliance during the development process and monitored continuously to ensure regulatory compliance.

While many organizations, both public and private, are mandated by privacy legislation that governs the collection, use, retention and distribution of personal information, this legislation varies greatly from country to country and can often be difficult to monitor and enforce. For example, in the EU, the cookie laws have changed and as a result how organizations interact with their Web users has changed. For organizations in the US, if operating abroad, this may or may not impact their Web business.

A best practice online privacy program, reinforced with a comprehensive automated privacy Web scanning program, provides a model that helps to ensure proper online collection, usage and protection of consumer?s personal data.

Regular, automated privacy scanning helps to mitigate the risks associated with non-compliant online content including:

• Fines by regulatory agencies
• Lawsuits by consumers or other end-users
• Lost customers due to breached personal information
• Reputational damage

Learn how online privacy compliance can be managed as part of an achievable strategy to ensure you are not putting your end users or your organization at risk.

Source: http://blog.hisoftware.com/2012/privacy/web-privacy-why-care

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Powerful Sandy Reaches Cuba (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/258162068?client_source=feed&format=rss

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MLI Senior Fellow Linda Nazareth in The Globe and Mail: Canada lucky to have options if economy slows

October 19, 2012 ? In yesterday?s Globe and Mail, MLI Senior Fellow Linda Nazareth discusses the policy options Canada still has in?its toolbox should the?economy slow. Full column below:

It is time to talk about the next global recession. No, it is not a certainty, and in fact it probably isn?t going to be a global recession anyway. What it?s likely to be is a sort of checkered recession: some countries are going to be hit hard, and some are going to be hit just a little

The last time around, in 2008, we had what seem in hindsight to have been a luxurious selection of policy tools to throw at the problem. Government spending, interest-rate cuts, non-traditional policy initiatives ? all were available, and all were used.

Flash forward four years and the options are severely limited. Government spending? Not if you are on the (ever-longer) list of countries risking a ratings cut. Interest rate cuts? Not if your benchmark rate is already zero (hello U.S., U.K.). On the plus side, most of the developing countries do have a little give in their monetary policy, and in the coming weeks we may find that many are willing to risk inflation in order to put in some stimulus. India, in particular, is on that list. Commodity-dependent Australia has started to cut rates too.

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve is still dealing with the effects of the 2008 crisis, with its one-two-three rounds of quantitative easing. Interest rate cuts are out of the question: the benchmark interest rate is already effectively zero. As for fiscal stimulus ? well, avoiding the fiscal cliff is ambitious enough right now.

And now let?s look at the Bank of Canada. Canada was doing so well pre-global crisis that the Bank actually tightened policy a bit through 2007, which had left the target for the overnight rate at 4 per cent. It started to cut rates in early 2008, then cut them more rapidly as the crisis deepened. By March, 2009, the benchmark rate was 0.5 per cent, although it was raised to 1 per cent in 2010. It has been at that level ever since.

You could certainly argue that the ?real? (inflation adjusted) interest rate in Canada is already basically zero (the inflation rate in Canada was 1.2 per cent as of August) but that does not mean that it cannot go into negative territory. Unlike others, the Bank of Canada still has scope to cut rates, if and when they need to do so. That?s long before getting into any quantitative easing on this side of the border. And let?s remember that Canadian government finances are stable enough that fiscal stimulus is a possibility too ? rather than a pipe dream in so many other parts of the world.

Is that going to be enough to save Canada if things slow down around the world? Of course not: if things get bad enough elsewhere, we are going to be vulnerable to a recession here too, particularly if we get a deep slide in commodity prices. There may be an argument too, that the Bank of Canada is waiting too long and should have stopped worrying about the consumer credit frenzy and just started cutting rates months ago.

There is no agreement on what the world should do about the impending storm. The IMF and World Bank could not come to an easy solution at their recent meetings, and the markets are torn on what the right moves are too.

But if there any comfort for Canada, it is that whatever happens there are a couple of possible buffers to the possible ? a downturn is still a scenario, not a certainty ? turmoil in the rest of the world. The first will likely come through a slide in the Canadian dollar which will cushion trade a bit. The next will come through whatever the fiscal and monetary policy makers decide.

It?s nice to have options.

Economist Linda Nazareth is the principal of Relentless Economics and senior fellow for economics and population change at the Macdonald Laurier Institute. Visit her at relentlesseconomics.com

?

Other Globe and Mail op-eds by Linda Nazareth:

?More Canadians working, but are wallets getting bigger?? ? October 5, 2012

?Smaller households, big implications??- September 27, 2012

?-

Please note that the link above was live when posted. Older links may no longer be functional.

Source: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/mli-senior-fellow-linda-nazareth-in-the-globe-and-mail-canada-lucky-to-have-options-if-economy-slows/

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Non-profit coming to Charlotte to aid women business owners ...

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -

At Three Little Birds stationary shop in Charlotte the chirping of the printing press machine is melodically crafting notes.

"The neighborhood where we are located in south end has been really supportive of us and they really helped to keep us in business, " said the stationary shop owner Kristen Stewart.

Five years ago when Stewart started her business these shelves weren't stocked with orders and this machine was not singing at all.

"It's been a rocky road," said Stewart.

"We started right when the economy tanked."

The self starter was new to the business world and says there weren't many resources available to help women.

"Just meeting other women who have been successful in business, learning how they were able to balance work and life, funding sources, and creative ways to market your business," said Stewart.?

Today, there are many more opportunities and support systems to give women a leg up.

For example, Count Me In For Women's Economic Independence, an organization which provides women help with growing their business.

"They got their nose on the grindstone doing their business everyday and they don't necessarily look at their financial and they don't really have a road map for growth," said Neil Merlino, Founder and President of Count Me In for Women's Independence.

And not fall short of their male counterparts.

"We spend a lot of time talking about how to have a bigger vision for your business so that you can in fact?start to attract the kind of people that you need both as customers and investors and as employees or contractors," said Merlino.

With mentoring services geared towards women,?Stewart hopes to keep Three Little Birds nestled in profits.?

Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence will be in Charlotte offering conferences for Women.

Urban Rebound-Charlotte Conference and Competition for Women

October 28-29, 2012?

The Westin Charlotte
601 South College Street - Charlotte, North Carolina

Registration is $49

www.countmein.org/UrbanRebound

Source: http://www.wbtv.com/story/19888375/women-growing-thier-business

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