Source:  NY Daily News

Experts are cynical about the authenticity of an evangelical Christian group’s claim to have found Noah’s Ark in Turkey.   

“I’m waiting for them to convince me,” Professor Eric Cline, chair of the Classics department at George Washington University, told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers boasted that they had found the iconic religious boat on Mount Ararat (where the Bible says the ark came to rest after the great flood).

“It’s not 100% that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9% that this is it,” Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary filmmaker and member of the group, told AFP.

“There’s a tremendous amount of solid evidence that the structure found on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey, is the legendary Ark of Noah,” said Dutch Ark researcher Gerrit Aalten, head of NoahsArkSearch.com, at the press conference to announce the discovery.

Despite Aalten’s enthusiasm, others are less inclined to quickly believe in the discovery.

“I don’t know of any expedition that ever went looking for the ark and didn’t find it,” Paul Zimansky, an archaeologist at Stony Brook University in New York state, told National Geographic.

The evangelical group says it found wood structures on Ararat, and carbon dating placed it at 4,800 years old. But even this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s Noah’s Ark – or that the “structure” they found is that old.

“All that we know at the moment is that the expedition members are showing us pictures and samples of a structure made out of wood,” Cline told The Christian Post.

“It could be ancient, it could be medieval, it could even have been constructed last week,” he said. “Even carbon-14 dating will only tell us how old the wood is; it will not tell us when the structure was constructed.”

“If the finds are published in a full and comprehensive manner, one will truly be able to assess it,” Dr. Aren M. Maeir, a professor at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, told The Christian Post. “Meanwhile, it joins many other such discoveries – and sound quite hard to believe.”

The actual location of the group’s find is being kept secret, but they are hoping to return, this time with more experts who they hope will verify their find.

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My Take:  Imagine the possibilities of what could happen every time someone finds wood scraps near this ancient Turkish location?  Exterior wood doors made from the wood of Noah’s Ark?  What a prize that decorative wooden door would be if it were proven to be truly made from even a sliver of the ark’s materials.  I’m pretty skeptical myself that the real ark has been found.  I know others have claimed to have located it, but frankly, I don’t think wood could have lasted that long.

I have been to other ruins in Turkey and seen exquisite excavations of some early Roman temples and edifices and there is no doubt as to that kind of authenticity.  Ephesus is perhaps the largest, most complete excavated ruin in the Aegean region and it is well-worth it.  Many people try to get married there, counting on their fancy San Diego CA wedding services companies to organize the details.  But it is a sacred space in Turkey and marriages are not allowed.  You can get married just outside the walls on public land, however, I think getting those San Diego CA wedding flowers over the Aegean Sea could be problematic.

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Living on Naples sounds like a dream, but for some residents there it’s becoming a potential nightmare.

In exchange for inhabiting an island with quaint canals where kayakers, paddlers and opera-singing gondoliers float past million-dollar homes, residents of this Long Beach neighborhood live with the anxiety of knowing that the only thing protecting their property from the ocean is a crumbling sea wall.

“If the sea wall fails, we’re in real trouble,” said Bob Fletcher, a retired lawyer who has experienced the sinking feeling of spotting ocean water seeping under the floorboards of his Spanish-style home on Rivo Alto Canal.

An engineer recently warned the city that sections of the mile-long concrete sea wall are on the verge of collapse. Long Beach officials are now studying whether to patch up the most threatened walls, as they have for years, or spend more than $9 million to rebuild them.

On an island where wealth is on display, it is this plain-Jane concrete berm that separates the good life from the ocean.

The coarse gray sea wall encircles Naples and forms the sides of its famed canals, created in 1905 when the island was molded into its current shape and the first homes were built.

Residents, who call their marinalike neighborhood the Jewel of Long Beach, want the city to replace the sea walls now to prevent future catastrophe.

It’s a hard bargain at a time when the city is financially stretched and doesn’t know how it would fund the multimillion-dollar project.

Maybe it’s time to call in a high-priced West Palm Beach Florida contracts attorney who has experience with construction issues and land barriers.  Maybe it’s time to call West Palm Beach FL Family Attorneys to figure out how all the rich homeowners would be compensated, should that wall come tumbling down.  Maybe it’s time to sit and do nothing.

Residents have long known that Naples is no ordinary neighborhood.

Divided into three portions, the island’s 1,800 homes are a mix of Victorian, Mission Revival and modern sitting in a mazelike configuration of curved streets and narrow bridges.

The artery of the community is its system of canals.

Electric boats, kayaks and other small watercraft line the canals and gangways, parallel-parked like cars on a city street. Not one, but two pirate statues stand as sentinels, one on a section of Naples known as Treasure Island.

In summer months, the splash of water sports abounds. Neighbors hold swimming contests: one side of the canal versus the other. In fall and winter, crowds descend on the sidewalks lining the canals for trick-or-treating, Christmas caroling and gawking at outrageous holiday light displays.

Residents within earshot of the canals — which is most everybody — have memorized the gondoliers’ Neapolitan songs: “O Sole Mio” and “Santa Lucia.”

But over the years, fear has escalated: If the sea walls buckle or crumble, oceanfront homes could slide into the water.

The sea walls were built out of timber in the 1920s and then rebuilt with concrete after the catastrophic 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

Decades of saltwater corrosion have taken their toll. As homes on the island have gotten bigger, furniture and planters and other features added, the development has put more stress on the sea wall and the weight has caused it to bow outward in places.

Public Works Director Michael Conway told the City Council earlier this month that “immediate attention is required to assure structural integrity” of about a quarter of the sea walls.

Skeptics question spending so much to rebuild the seawalls when the city is facing a projected $18.5-million budget shortfall and money is also needed in other areas of the city — to patch up potholes or repave crumbling streets, for instance.

“I don’t want to have fear be the driver of this, I want it to be the reality,” Councilwoman Rae Gabelich said at a special council meeting about the sea walls.

The well-heeled residents of Naples stress that it’s not a pet project — they’re not asking for public dollars to benefit their backyard, but to maintain the waterways for everyone who uses them.

“On holiday weekends, the canal looks like a freeway,” said Bob Luskin, who cruises the canals in his inflatable motorboat. “It may be an island but it’s not an isolated community.”

Islanders can’t help but feel nervous noticing concrete flaking off the sides of the seawall. When they take their boats out, they see from eye level the decay of the concrete and wonder what would happen in a strong earthquake.

Engineers say the most severely corroded parts of the wall are underwater and can’t be seen without scuba gear.

Naples has an ally in its councilman, Gary DeLong, who calls the aging sea walls “a potential disaster waiting to happen” and has urged the city to fund a lasting overhaul.

If no money is discovered, however, the city may opt to spend $1 million reinforcing the most damaged sections, extending their life five to 10 years.

But within the next decade or two, the city will have to replace all of Naples’ sea walls, at a cost of $60 million.

The neighborhood’s sea wall committee has been presented with study after study dating back to the early 1990s warning of the impending failure of the sea walls, said chair Maureen Poe. Her She says now is the time for action.

“They’ve been up for a long time and they’ve been holding up pretty good, it’s actually surprising,” she said. “But their time is up and we need to start addressing it, because we all suffer or benefit because of the walls.” 

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My Take:  Lets face it: if we were talking about hiring a Texas birth injury lawyer  to determine whether this wall was going to cause future problems with babies and births, there wouldn’t be any issue of budget cuts.  But being rich has it’s drawbacks.  In the eyes of the cash strapped city of Long Beach and the state of California, the Dallas Texas personal injury attorney fees, or any fees for that matter, could easily be paid for by the homeowners themselves. After all, they have the money and if they are worried about the future, they can pay to do something about it, right?

The courtrooms of the city of Los Angeles are filled with cases against the city proper, and Long Beach would be no exception.  If you were to scour the files from the Los Angeles court reports you’d find that typically they settle cases out of court because they don’t like lawsuits.  But, if you refuse a claim settlement, in many cases, according to Los Angeles court reporting documents, you then have to pay for the trial fees and that includes the cities expenses if you lose.  It’s often a good thing to do nothing or fix it yourself in some cities, especially now, when municipalities are having to cut teachers and services just to keep the lights on.

Laws on Line
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Source: L.A. Daily News

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is using good-old fashioned PR to clear its name as it facing harsh allegations of civil fraud.

Goldman has hit back hard against civil fraud charges with a public relations blitz aimed at poking holes in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case and repairing the bank’s reputation. Every time the SEC has punched, Goldman has quickly counterpunched.

Public relations consultants say it’s too early to know if the strategy is working for Wall Street’s most powerful bank. Some big Goldman clients are publicly backing the firm, yet its stock has yet to recover from the double-digit nosedive that followed the SEC lawsuit on April 16.

To help its cause, Goldman has hired Mark Fabiani, a big player in the PR world with strong ties to top Democrats. Fabiani earned the nickname “Master of Disaster” for his handling of crises during the Clinton administration. He now works as a media consultant specializing in corporate crisis management. Goldman has also brought in top corporate attorneys. And its executives, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein, have been out in public, not hunkering down.

Crisis adversion
The damage control efforts will be on display Tuesday when Blankfein and Fabrice Tourre, the employee named in the SEC fraud charges, are questioned by a Senate subcommittee probing the bank’s role in the financial crisis.

Goldman’s PR campaign, which runs counter to its long history of secrecy, is a bold yet risky move. Some analysts say a poor performance on Capitol Hill could worsen the bank’s image problems and make it harder for it to attract and retain lucrative clients. If the strategy fails, analysts say, it could cost Blankfein and other Goldman executives their jobs.

But the company got a boost last week when several big clients including the investment firm Blackstone Group and Ford Motor Co. said they’re sticking by the bank. More support came from Warren Buffett, whose company, Berkshire Hathaway, has a big Goldman stake. Berkshire Hathaway has said Buffett isn’t concerned about his investment in the bank.

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My Take:  Goldman Sachs is getting exactly what it deserves in having to defend itself.  The sad news is, it has the money to create a campaign effective enough to probably dissuade lawmakers from pursuing penalties or arrests.

The fallout from the mortgage lending sector is still prevalent in many corners of the country, from the top Seo company providers and bakeries, to the mom and pops out there who provide childcare, tutoring, and everything from donuts to car repair.  Big companies like Goldman don’t have to worry too much about how to pay their bills.  They’ve got more going for than the up-and-coming SEO company provider, or the Italian bakery owner, or the teachers out there who are getting pink-slipped each day and wondering how they will feed their kids.

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Legal Lines
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Forever 21 opens up in Japan’s famous Ginza district, reflecting shifting interests in luxury brands toward lower priced fast fashion.

The star brand of American mall-style clothing — reputed for delivering runway looks at cheap prices — opened Thursday in Matsuzakaya department store in Tokyo’s upscale glitzy Ginza district.

In a move symbolic of the shift to bargain hunting in slowdown-struck Japan, Forever 21 is replacing what was a Gucci boutique, packing five floors with colorful racks of 350 yen ($4) tank tops and 1,580 yen ($17) frilly skirts.

“It’s a surprise to find good bargains in a department store,” said Fusako Suzuki, one of the first customers, clutching her purchase of eight items, including socks and summer tunics, adding up to a thrifty 10,000 yen ($100).

“I used to go to expensive brands when I was single but not any more, now that I’m married,” the 33-year-old pharmacist said of former favorites like Burberry.

The department store replaced Gucci with Forever 21 in the hope of drawing more business and is offering freebies and discounts to those who buy merchandise worth 2,100 yen ($22) at Forever 21.

The new Forever 21 store is just its second in Japan.

The first opened in the teenybopper Harajuku district a year earlier, drawing a line a kilometer (half a mile) long. Its aisles are still overflowing with shoppers, who are buying up Forever 21’s street-style wear with the same frenzy for local brands famous for “kawaii,” or cuteness.

The second store seeks to cater to an older but young-at-heart crowd in Ginza and has a children’s section. It drew a shorter line for the opening but it was packed compared to the rest of the department store.

Ginza still boasts its established European brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Hermes, carrying price tags of thousands of dollars (millions of yen), including a Gucci store around the corner from Forever 21.

But its landscape is changing with the arrival in recent years of Swedish chain Hennes & Mauritz AB, or H&M, Zara of Spain, and Japan’s own fast-fashion retailer Uniqlo.

Analysts say Forever 21, offering 1,680 yen ($18) tops that get marked down to 399 yen ($4) on sale, has a good chance of securing a piece of what Tokyo-based think-tank Yano Research Institute estimates is Japan’s 10 trillion yen ($108 billion) apparel business.

Younger Japanese are becoming more frugal than their parents and more confident about how they dress, rather than depending on high-end brands for status.

They also love the variety available at Forever 21, which updates its stock everyday, says Paul McInnes, editor of Tokyofashion.com.

“The stores have copies of luxury brands, but they are produced very quickly — and very cheaply,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

But McInnes and other experts warn foreign brands can fail in Japan, and the key is not only speed and price but also being in tune with local tastes.

In fast food, Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s have emerged big winners here while Dunkin’ Donuts and Wendy’s have been forced to leave the market.

Among the imports that appear to be struggling is U.S. preppy brand Abercrombie & Fitch Co., which opened in the Ginza, across the street from Forever 21, in December, analysts say.

Although the skimpily clad male sales clerks drew initial media attention, the crowds have dissipated, partly because some of its clothes are sold at double its U.S. prices.

That’s something that may have worked in the past but no longer because Japanese check prices online and more have shopped in the U.S.

The look was also all wrong, given the trend here for androgyny in men — just the opposite from the macho casual attire being pushed by Abercrombie & Fitch, says Timothy Schepis, a fashion expert who consults for businesses setting up shop in Japan.

“Japanese consumers’ priorities have changed a lot since the recession. They’ve become more mature shoppers due to the Internet, where they can find the prices of things easily and multiple places to compare,” he said.

Over the net counter
American clothing isn’t the only thing Japanese consumers are shopping around for online.  Just as it is in the U.S., savvy Japanese shoppers are scouring the net for everything from American dispensed herbal viagra to Cannon copier accessories.  Of course, shipping costs are always a barrier.  But they will compare overseas pricing on those used copy machines before they look for a local distributor.   They also do their research, spending chunks of time searching for information about the latest safe impotence treatment in America, what the trends are in shoes, or the hottest hoodies for spring.

The Forever 21 chain, based in Los Angeles, has grown since 1984 to 480 stores in 15 countries. It is hoping to open some 10 stores a year in Japan.

Two are set to open in May, said Executive Vice President Lawrence Meyer, while declining to give Japan profit numbers or targets.

“Japan is our No. 1 market in Asia,” he said. “We are very pleased with the way the Japanese customer has accepted our brand.

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My Take: I’m not a big F-21 fan, as my younger niece likes to call it.  The clothes are obviously designed to fit young girls with no curves and skinny boys.  I know they also now have a kids clothing line in some stores, which is kind of scary, because it makes my long-time opinion that kids are looking too much like their parents when they get dropped off for school seem more like reality.  But the Japanese are notoriously un-curvy and I can see why the F-21 brand would be an attraction over AB&F, the latter being so much more preppy and also a little more conservative and, well, “mom like.”

Speaking of kids.  I recently found a great video that teaches you how to make everything from letter holders to kids desks out of recycled cardboard.  Check it out here.   You’ll also find a video on how to make your own chalkboard paint, which is a great alternative to those magnetic chalk board Canada products because you paint the surface of a wall and use that for the board.  No more nails or holes in the wall.
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Source:  Los Angeles Times

An art and antiques dealer who sold a fake Picasso for $2 million agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges, authorities said April 27.

Tatiana Khan, 70, owner and operator of the Chateau Allegré gallery on La Cienega Boulevard, agreed to plead guilty to witness tampering and making false statements to the FBI.

As part of the plea deal, the West Hollywood resident admitted she paid an art restorer $1,000 to create a reproduction of a work by Pablo Picasso — a 1902 pastel “La Femme Au Chapeau Bleu” or “The Woman in the Blue Hat.”

Khan will enter her plea to the felony counts next month before U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real. Although she faced a maximum of 25 years in federal prison, the agreement with federal prosecutors means she is not likely to serve more than 21 months in prison.

Khan allegedly told artist Maria Apelo Cruz that the real Picasso artwork had been stolen from one of Khan’s clients and that the dealer needed a copy to play a trick that would help catch the thief. Soon after, Khan allegedly sold the drawing for $2 million to the art prospector.

When Khan was contacted by the FBI in 2009, the complaint alleged, the gallery owner told Cruz not to divulge that she had created the fake Picasso. Khan also asked Cruz to change the invoice to say that Cruz had simply retouched a primitive painting, according to the federal criminal complaint.

Sell this
It’s actually easier to sell Marbella real estate in Spain to elderly couples in Florida than it is to pawn off a fake Picasso.  But the artist chosen to create the false work apparently smelled a rat.   The money the artist was paid for the commissioned the work  was  mere drop in the bucket compared to the sale price.  Clearly enough to purchase a colony of Marbella villas.

In an interview, FBI agents said Khan told them she obtained the drawing from a cosmetologist whose family had purchased the Picasso before the Bosnian war, as collateral for a $40,000 loan.

Khan allegedly told the agents she believed the cosmetologist’s family paid about $300,000 for the artwork but that she later learned it was worth $2 million to $5 million and decided to sell it on the lower end. The cosmetologist has since died.

According to the plea agreement, Khan falsely told an FBI agent who was investigating the sale that Khan had obtained the drawing from an acquaintance. Khan also admitted she told the art restorer to lie to the FBI by saying she only did restoration work for Khan and did not do any copying work.

As part of her plea agreement, Khan will make full restitution to the purchaser of the fake Picasso and will forfeit a work by the abstract impressionist painter Willem de Kooning that Khan had purchased with some of the proceeds from her fraud.

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My Take: I’m not a big art world freak, but I do have a few original pieces in my house.  Nothing by Picasso, but valuable enough to me to make sure that my maid service MD folks are fully vetted before coming in to clean.  I’d heard plenty of stories about cleaners stealing from their employers all over the country, not anyone from the Rockville MD home cleaning service I use, but from many others, and you just can’t be too careful.

By the way, just as you can get a free insurance quote online, you can also have a work of art appraised online.  The difference, however, is that with a free car insurance quote you have a lot of other “models” to choose from.  With one-of-a kind paintings, it’s not so easy.

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Source: Associated Press

Two children and two years later, Jennifer Lopez has resurfaced with a “Back-up Plan.”

“This movie is about a woman who gets to a point in her life,” Lopez says. “She’s successful … She has a full life. But, at the same time, she hasn’t found that person to share her life with and to have a family with, and so she decides to do it on her own. She decides to have a baby on her own.”

The film, opening Friday, is part of the mid-life movie genre that has served actresses well of late, including such blockbusters as “The Proposal” and “It’s Complicated,” starring Sandra Bullock, 45, and Meryl Streep, 60, respectively. “The Back-up Plan” marks Lopez’s first film since turning 40 last July.

“It is a great time to be an actress,” Lopez said at a recent convention of theater owners in Las Vegas. “It seems like you can work and do anything at any age … It’s a great time that people are just seeing people’s souls.”

“It’s not so superficial anymore,” the actress continued. “Women have proven that they are viable in this business, as well, and it doesn’t matter if you’re not 21 years old. It just matters that you’re great at what you do. And that’s exciting.”

“Back-up Plan” works through a variety pregnancy issues — now familiar turf for Lopez, who gave birth to fraternal twins, Emme and Maximilian, in February 2008.

One thing in the film she couldn’t relate to: the last act’s big (and hilarious) water-birthing sequence.

“No!” Lopez laughed. “I didn’t have any water birth. I was in a hospital. It was a much more controlled atmosphere: no singing, no drums. But there was a little bit of music. But other than that, no similarities.”

For those Jennifer fans . . . Imagine the T shirt designs one could come up with trying to put all the images of Lopez’s highlights on one side.  Good thing you can download new movies online because for those who can’t make it to the theater they’ll be able to get this film right at home.  Of course, for every movie download you also want to check out concert downloads featuring Lopez, another genre altogether.

In addition to making a movie and caring for her children (with musician-husband Marc Anthony), Lopez continues to run her empire, which also includes a fragrance line, clothing and music.

And the music will keep playing for Lopez, though not at longtime label Sony Music, which she amicably left earlier this year.

“I had done seven albums with Sony, believe it or not,” she explained. “We had a great relationship, and we sold a lot of records, and the company, you know, has changed a little bit, and I just thought it was time for a fresh start.”

For movies, however, the star has gone back to her roots, returning to the romantic comedy genre that made her a bankable movie star with film’s such as 2002’s “Maid in Manhattan” and “Shall We Dance?” in 2004.

“Love is an endlessly fascinating subject for me,” she noted, with a laugh. “I love to watch movies in bed with Marc — romantic comedies, much to his chagrin. He doesn’t love them, but he puts up with it. Those are our date nights.”

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My Take: No big light bulbs going off for me with this idea for a film.  Haven’t we done the women-turns-40-needs-more angle over and over again?  I think we need to explore what happens after a woman turns 40 and has a baby on her own.  What difficulties does she face on a daily basis as an older mother who doesn’t look as hot as she used to under those Halogen light bulbs.   Imagine the glory of the Tee shirt designers out there who could tap a brand catering to older single moms by choice.  Nothing like getting a big splattering of regurgitated breast milk on your little black dress to turn a date night into a fright night.   Sitter?  Who can afford one of those?   Don’t get me started on how horrifying the service gets when you walk in as a party of 1 and a bundle of joy carrying a pump in a tote bag.

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Building blocks?

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Source:  Associated Press

Transportation officials say that Toyota Motor Corp. is expected to agree to a fine of more than $16 million for failing to promptly report problems with sticking gas pedals on its vehicles that have brought the company under siege and resulted in mass recalls of its cars.

Toyota faces a Monday deadline to accept or contest the $16.4 million fine, the largest ever assessed by the government against an automaker, over evidence it knew about the defective gas pedals in September but did not issue a recall until January.

Cars not chairs . . .If we were talking about faulty office work stations here, or faulty cell phones instead of automobiles, the impact would be far less severe.  But these are cars, not office furniture, and lives have been reportedly been lost as a result of the faulty breaks.

Under federal law, automakers are required to notify the government within five business days when they find a potential safety defect.

The Transportation official said Toyota is expected to pay the full amount of the fine within 30 days as a way of avoiding going to court against the government. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

The official said Toyota did not intend to admit wrongdoing explicitly but the company still faces dozens of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits in federal courts. Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are conducting investigations related to the recalls.

From the government’s viewpoint, the official said, the agreement to pay the full fine constituted an acceptance of responsibility for hiding the safety defect in violation of the law.

Toyota declined comment on the fine.

Toyota announced it would recall 2.3 million vehicles in January to address sticking pedals on popular vehicles such as the Camry and Corolla. The Japanese automaker has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.

The fine was based upon timelines provided by Toyota that showed it had known about the sticky pedal defect at least since Sept. 29, 2009, when it issued repair procedures to distributors in 31 European countries to address complaints of sticking pedals, sudden increases in engine RPM and unexpected vehicle acceleration.

The documents also indicated that Toyota knew that owners in the U.S. had experienced the same problems.

The Japanese automaker has been weighing its options since the fine was announced in early April but analysts expected it to pay the penalty

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My Take: You can bet every lawyer from the Philadelphia PA white collar crime attorney to the small San Diego County newbee would chomp at the bit to take on a big automaker like Toyota.  The company stands to loose billions of dollars mopping up this mess and it’s a shame: I like the Toyota brand, although I’m a Honda driver.  Toyota’s reputation to date has been relatively positive and certainly they make great cars; consider how many of them are on the roads and highways?

I would venture to guess that a vast majority of inquiries for car insurance quotes online are for Toyota owners.  They are, or were, that popular here in the U.S.  I’d imagine that if you own a Toyota that has been recalled, the process for wanting to compare insurance quotes online in the future won’t be as straightforward.  You don’t have to be Lehigh County PA criminal lawyer to figure out that the big insurers out there are going to be carefully monitoring their policies on all Toyota cars and making it difficult for some owners to get insurance without paying for it.

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Andrew and Debbie Jackman of Britain had a much longer vacation to Australia than they had planned for, despite saving for two years for the trip.

On Friday, they found out their Qantas flight from Sydney to Britain had been canceled thanks to a volcano erupting in Iceland. So the Cambridge couple and their two teenage sons squeezed into a 150 Australian dollar ($138) hotel room to wait out the night. On Saturday, the hotel raised the price of the same room to AU$350 — simply because it could, Andrew said ruefully. After endless negotiations, the hotel brought the price back down to AU$160, but the family, broke and frustrated, opted to move Sunday to a hostel.

“We’re at the end of the holiday so we’ve spent all our money,” a weary-eyed Andrew said, as he sat with his family next to the Qantas customer service counter at Sydney Airport. “Because that’s what you do on holiday.”

A dangerous cloud of ash from the volcano has grounded flights in and out of Europe for four days, leaving thousands of people stranded — and increasingly strapped for cash. Stuck passengers have had to shell out for hotels, restaurant meals, clothing and transport to and from the airport as they seek information on when their travel nightmare might end.

In Japan, Francois Broche was down to his last 3,000 yen ($30). The 33-year-old literature and philosophy professor from Nimes, France, said he would have to call his bank at home to see if he can get his money transferred — but doesn’t know how.

“I stayed in my hotel last night, but that was all my money,” he said at the Narita International Airport, near Tokyo. “I think I’m going to stay here and sleep at the airport. Help me God.”

Nicolas Ribard, 29, from Avignon, France, was among about a dozen stranded tourists squatting on sleeping bags that Narita airport officials had lent them. He and three other friends had about 3,000 yen between them, and were surviving on airport-issued crackers, bottled water and coupons for one free shower a day.

Their earliest possible flight would be Taiwan’s EVA Airways on May 12 — but only if they are willing to pay an extra 150 euros ($200). Otherwise, they have to wait until June, Ribard said.

Airport officials came by Monday and offered a tour of the airport to kill time.

“This is not what we need,” Ribard said. “We want a bowl of rice.”

Many stranded travelers are also fretting over lost paychecks. Tom Napier — an American stuck in Oslo, where he had been visiting a friend — said his prolonged absence from his job as a high school history teacher in Bernards, New Jersey, will “more than likely” affect his salary.

“I am a little afraid that my pay will be docked,” said Napier, 35. “I also have tutoring jobs during the week that usually supplement my salary. That will be gone. And even if I don’t get my pay docked, all my days off will have to be charged as sick days.”

Andrew Cutter, 40, of London, who got stuck in Sweden while visiting his brother, said he will miss out on income from his job as a contractor in the events industry.

Cutter had planned to go back to London with Ryanair on Sunday, but has now rescheduled his flight for Thursday, hoping airspace will be open by then. The four days will cost him about $1,000 in lost wages.

“Really, if I’m not back by next Monday, I think it’s going to be an issue,” he said. “I had to buy some extra clothes today because I didn’t have enough.”

Steeper-than-usual hotel prices is another passenger complaint. In Hong Kong, Busi Daniel, a 39-year-old French tourist, said he spent Sunday night in a hotel after his flight was canceled. But a huge jump in price meant he would be forced to sleep at the airport on Monday.

“Yesterday, we had a hotel room at 250 euros. At midday, it was 460 euros, and in the evening, the price was 800 euros for a room — we can’t pay that,” he said Monday as he waited at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ counter in Hong Kong’s airport.

The Jackmans spent hours pleading for mercy from the Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach after it raised the price of their room the second night.

Asked if the hotel was guilty of price-gouging, the hotel’s general manager, Alan Burrows, said simply, “We dynamically price much like the airlines do, according to how many rooms we have to sell in the hotel.”

Every hotel has offers for group travel deals.  Even discount hotelsshe and have the same, but not all airlines and hotels have pre-set arrangements in place to handle such emergencies.  In many cases, vouchers are handed out for rooms, but they often don’t cover the full extent of the fees.

Unlike many airlines, Qantas — Australia’s largest carrier — has said it’s been paying for stranded passengers’ accommodations and providing meal vouchers. That was news to the Jackmans, who said airline representatives told them they were on theithis isr own.

On Monday, after spending three hours on hold with Qantas, the family trekked back to the airport (another AU$30 cab ride), and spoke to a customer service representative in person. It was only then, they said, that the airline offered to pay for a hotel room — for one night.

Following queries from The Associated Press, Qantas said it planned to call the family to apologize — and to refund the money they’ve spent on hotels.

“We regret that the Jackmans have been overlooked in this case,” spokesman Simon Rushton said.

Andrew Jackman said that was just the news his cash-strapped family was hoping for, adding that they might even do a bit of sightseeing.

“I think we can enjoy ourselves now.”

_____________________________________________

My Take: Considering the money airlines charge now for carryon extras, food and even in-flight entertainment, you’d think they’d have a better contingency plan in place for emergencies that leave their passengers stranded.  In this case, the “emergency” is having a crippling impact on the entire travel industry and there is likely going to be a serious ripple effect across the entire sector that could set airlines, as well as hotels, and other travel related companies back years in the post-911 recovery process.

Personally, I prefer domestic travel these days to flights oversees.  I was fortunate enough to see many European and Asian countries when I was younger.  Today, my TIVO, a nice room filled with wickless candles and music are just about as comforting to me as a six day cruise.  Planes and airports are another source of stress I just no longer want to subject myself too.

Some years, we opt for national parks and tents. Others, we check out vacation homes or cabins.  Did you know how easy it is to trade out homes by the way?  Egan MN homes for rent are mostly for folks wo want to rent for the long haul. Edina MN property management companies, however, do occasionally have vacation rentals in their inventories.   When you rent a vacation home, everything you need to be comfortable is there for you when you arrive.  Well, maybe you might have to bring in your own Scentsy wickless candles, and food, and perhaps some DVDs.  But essentially this is a great way to travel domestically.

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Source:  Long Beach Press-Telegram

California’s nursing homes have received $880 million in additional funding from a 2004 state law designed to help hire more caregivers and boost wages.

But 232 homes did just the opposite. They either cut staff, paid lower wages or let caregiver levels slip below a state-mandated minimum, a California Watch investigation has found.

 The homes that made these cuts collected about $236 million through 2008, the last year of available data. That’s more than a quarter of the total Medi-Cal funding increase shared by the state’s nursing homes. But the law that made the extra money possible included few safeguards to ensure that patient care improved.

Many nursing homes appeared to use the cash infusion to help bolster their bottom lines, according to a California Watch analysis of state nursing home data. Among the 131 homes that cut staff by 2008, the median profit was 35 percent more than other homes in the analysis.

At the same time, the analysis shows, about two dozen homes that made the deepest caregiver cuts had about one-third more deficiencies than other state facilities. State inspectors noted a litany of violations that included neglecting bedsores and giving patients the wrong drugs.

“There was an implicit good faith agreement that things would get better and that was broken,” said state Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, chairwoman of the Senate Health Committee. “It was broken for the people of California and for a very vulnerable population – those that need the greatest care and those that can’t advocate for themselves.”

 James Gomez, the chief executive of the state’s nursing home trade organization, said the 2004 law has led to a 5 percent increase in staffing rates for the state’s 1,100 nursing homes and an overall decline in turnover among caregivers – from 54 percent to 47 percent. California’s homes now exceed the national average for meeting the staffing minimum, Gomez added.

“Is it working in every facility every day? No,” said Gomez, leader of the California Association of Health Facilities. “But is it working in total? Absolutely.”

Of the homes that cut staffing, 13 owned by Orange County-base Covenant Care stand out. The homes pared caregivers even as they got $15 million in additional funding.

The average profit at those 13 homes reached more than $900,000 in 2008 – three times higher than the remaining 632 homes analyzed by California Watch.

The chain’s chief operating officer testified last year in a deposition that part of the company’s business plan called for housing more medically fragile patients. The strategy opens the door to higher reimbursements, according to critics, who say it can be dangerous to combine lower staffing rates with patients who need more attention.  Patients such as Charles McGrew. The Texas-born janitor was admitted to the chain’s Long Beach home, Royal Care Center, in early 2006.

McGrew, a diabetic with high blood pressure and a history of infections, began to develop pressure sores on his ankles and tailbone at the home. But little was done to help him, according to court records filed by his family.  One sore got so deep it exposed the bone. Another became severely infected, court records show.

Meredith McGrew, 24, said one sore was like a hole in his father’s back. Seeing it pained the younger McGrew, who remembers his father as a meticulously neat man.

“My family took it really hard,” McGrew said. “My father was the one who looked out for a lot of them and raised them, so they were devastated by the care he was getting.”

McGrew’s left leg needed to be amputated due to one sore, the family alleged. When he died three years ago at age 70, McGrew’s family blamed his death on mistreatment. Attorneys for Covenant said the family failed to prove that the facility caused McGrew’s problems. The case was settled and the terms are confidential.

Since his death, the home’s staffing level sank below the state-mandated staffing minimum set in 2000. Royal Care’s total profits, though, reached $540,000 in 2008 alone.

The Covenant Care chain, meanwhile, rewarded top administrators and nursing supervisors with bonuses based, in part, on how much profit each home generated, records show. Around the same time, a family trust associated with the company’s CEO, Robert Levin, paid $4.76 million to purchase an Irvine estate, complete with a theater and outdoor living room.

Levin would not comment about funding and staffing levels for this article. He asked in January for questions to be sent to him in writing, but he did not respond to the written questions or several follow-up phone calls. When finally reached by a reporter late last month, Levin again declined to comment.

The funding increases for nursing homes were made possible by the 2004 law that helped the state draw more money out of Washington, D.C., gradually boosting government spending from $3 billion in 2004 to nearly $4 billion in 2008.

The infusion of state and federal money has done nothing to slow the pace of violations and complaints.

State regulators documented nearly 1,000 deficiencies for inadequate care in 2008, a 65 percent increase compared with 2005.

Regulators maintain that the state hired more inspectors, which may account for the increase. But that doesn’t explain the 23 percent rise in complaints filed by patients, advocates or their families.In 2004, before the law was enacted, nursing homes registered 4,499 complaints. In 2008, patients, their loved ones and advocates filed 5,549 complaints.

Despite mounting complaints and citations, state officials in charge of carrying out the new law granted nursing homes a powerful weapon to fight claims of inadequate care: more money. They allowed homes to bill the state for legal costs spent to fight fines, citations and lawsuits alleging abuse and neglect.

“The policy is outrageous,” said Michael Connors, an advocate with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. “By paying the legal fees of nursing homes that are neglecting and abusing residents, the state is subsidizing their mistreatment. They’re directly undermining the whole purpose of the citation and enforcement system.”

State officials could not identify exactly how much they spent reimbursing nursing homes to fight penalties. But records show that since the 2004 law passed, nursing homes are challenging twice as many citations. Homes challenged 110 citations in 2005 and more than 220 in 2008, records provided by the Department of Public Health show.

Oversight lacking

The Nursing Home Quality Care Act of 2004 was designed to fix a glaring problem: Daily Medi-Cal rates paid to nursing homes in California were among the lowest in the nation.

An alliance of labor leaders and nursing home owners came up with a plan that wiped out a flat-fee system and replaced it with one that reimbursed nursing homes based on their costs.

The system allowed nursing homes to boost the amount of matching funds they got from the federal government. The homes first pay a fee to trigger the matching funds and additional revenues.

Not all homes benefited as much as others. Some homes even lost money, especially ones that serve fewer Medi-Cal patients. But most of the state’s homes analyzed by California Watch drew a windfall of new money.

Homes could spend the new money on a variety of services. But reimbursement rates increased if they spent the money on labor. Homes also got additional bonuses meant to boost hiring and wages.

Patient advocacy groups cried foul over the added payment, noting the nursing homes could ultimately spend it any way they wanted. And some advocates bristled over the lack of get-tough measures in the proposal. The California AARP ran full-page newspaper ads that said, “No blank check for bad nursing homes.”

Still, the bill flew through the Legislature. When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it, he directed the Department of Health Services to “reward quality care.

“We are making this investment in nursing facilities to ensure better care, and I intend to hold the industry and caregivers accountable for this critical responsibility,” Schwarzenegger’s 2004 signing statement said.

Despite the governor’s directive, the Schwarzenegger administration failed to follow through. Instead, California Watch found, state regulators lavished new money on homes where findings of lax care mounted, where administrators failed to pay fines for poor care, and where corporate executives cut staff in California and expanded chains elsewhere.

The Governor’s Office declined to comment for this story, referring questions instead to agency officials.

Toby Douglas, chief deputy director for health care programs at the Department of Health Care Services, conceded that some homes may have cut staff. But he said that most have invested more heavily in caregivers. His office repeatedly attempted to route questions about nursing home accountability to another state agency that inspects the homes.

While Douglas’ agency sets rates and reimburses nursing homes, a second agency, the Department of Public Health, issues and collects fines for substandard care. Even if one agency cites a home for egregious and repeated violations, the other agency may reward it with more funding.

“Our responsibility is to develop a rate method that tries to meet the goals the governor laid out in his signing message,” Douglas said. “That means we have to set a methodology and hold that methodology accountable. In that area, yes, we believe we’re doing a good job.”

Douglas said the Governor’s Office has “made it clear that (the funding law) could be improved” by linking nursing home pay to factors such as patient satisfaction, reduction of bed sores or payment of fines for inadequate care. His department is in the “very preliminary” stages of creating such a system, Douglas said.

The revenue increases to nursing homes were not renewed last year due to opposition from patient advocates, but nursing home executives have been pushing to restore the funding. Alquist, the state senator who heads the health committee, says the law will be scrutinized during a scheduled legislative review this year.

Staffing lags

The Golden State has about 1,100 licensed nursing homes that each year care for an estimated 100,000 people – including the elderly, disabled and those recovering from surgery.

California Watch reviewed financial and staffing data for the 645 nursing homes that serve the largest number of low-income Medi-Cal patients who need 24-hour care. The 2004 law was set up to benefit these homes the most.

Of that group, 232 homes either cut staffing or wages or fell below the statewide staffing minimum – even as they received more money from Medi-Cal. The analysis found that 27 other homes fell behind in wages and staffing but saw a reduction in funding.

Since the legislation was enacted, the California Department of Health Care Services gave the 645 homes analyzed by California Watch a total funding increase of nearly 25 percent over five years

But the lowest-paid workers who perform the vast majority of the patient care in nursing homes did not see that kind of raise. Only 76 homes in the state gave nursing assistants a 25 percent pay increase. Adjusting for inflation, average wages in more than 400 homes went down, the California Watch analysis shows.

In 2008, dozens of homes also operated beneath the decade-old staffing standard – which is set at three hours and 12 minutes of caregiver attention a day for every nursing home patient. At Cloverdale Healthcare Center in Sonoma County, staffing was down 8 percent in 2008 compared with 2004, despite the home’s $1 million increase in state funds. Regulators found problems there in the beginning of 2009, including one patient who had been left wearing a dirty diaper for five hours.

Cloverdale officials did not return calls seeking comment.

New Jersey home health care providers, and others like it are benefiting from the shift from long-term care to home-based care.  But across the country, from Ocean County NJ house call doctors, and in-home care providers in Texas, everyone is uncertain about the future of medicare funding and reimbursements under guidelines set out in recently passed healthcare reform legislation.

Gomez, of the California Association of Health Facilities, said the state should aggressively investigate the homes that operated in 2008 with staffing levels below the state standard.

“I don’t have an issue with them looking at those facilities today,” Gomez said of the 68 homes below the nursing-hour minimum. “That would be the right thing to do.”

The state, however, has not issued staffing-related fines to any of the homes that failed throughout 2008 to reach the minimum staffing level, records show.

_____________________________________ 

 My Take: Nursing homes have to be among the most depressing places on the planet, unless you’ve got the luxury of putting a relative in one that costs a fortune.  I’d rather take a five week course on how to pick locks or work for minimum wage for a Long Island computer service provider than work in a nursing home.  I frankly don’t see how people do it.  I know they are a necessary part of our society, as most people can’t afford in-home care or a fancy “rest home” as they used to call them back in the day.  But so , many of them are smelly and dingy and seem neglected from the aesthetic perspective, and I wouldn’t want to have to visit a relative in one if there were other choices.

But what choice do we have if we are among the low-wage earners who for example, sell lockpick tools  or do provide that computer help in New York?  We rely on the government for support and when we do that, we have to take what we can get.

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Source:  ReutersAn Australian academic who lost a bet involving housing prices now has to pay up and trek to the country’s highest mountain peak.

University of Western Sydney Associate Professor Steve Keen began a 225 kilometer, (140 mile) nine-day trek Thursday from Canberra to the top of 2,228 meter high Mount Kosciuszko after wrongly predicting a housing market crash.

At the height of the global financial crisis in late 2008, Keen predicted house prices in Australia would fall as much as 40 percent, mirroring crashes in the United States and Britain.

But Keen’s prediction was questioned by Macquarie Group’s top interest rate strategist Rory Robertson, who said the collapse would never happen and challenged the loser to trek to the top of Mount Kosciuszko.

Since then, house prices have rebounded and were more than 13 percent higher in December 2009 than a year earlier. They were also 14.5 percent higher than their low in March 2009.”My call was always over the longer-term when house prices fall, they fall a lot slower than share prices,” said an unrepentant Keen. “The government has simply delayed the inevitable by engineering this latest bubble.”

Not in the U.S.
Australia’s housing market may be moving faster toward a recovery than anyone expected, but that’s not case in many parts of the U.S.  The folks who purchased high-priced upper Nyack New York homes, or took out second mortgages on their homes to pay off debts, are struggling to make ends meet as home prices slowly begin to limp toward pre-2003 levels.  Lenders who backed mortgages on that expensive Piermont real estate, as are most all lenders across the U.S., are operating under much stiffer requirements for home buyers, and getting that loan today won’t be anything like it was before our own bubble burst.

The government doubled a generous grant to first-home buyers in response to the global financial crisis, while decade low mortgage rates saw buyers flock to the housing sector in 2009.

Australia’s central bank is concerned about a housing market bubble and rising inflation and has raised rates 125 basis points since October last year, with more expected to come.

Keen, who sold his inner-Sydney home in 2008, will wear a T-shirt during his trek printed with the words: “I was hopelessly wrong on house prices; ask me how.”

But Keen has not given up his cause and dubbed his trek a walk “against Australia’s property mania,” while predicting that a housing market crash is “only a matter of time.”

“To humor Dr Keen, I’ve said that if Australian house prices fall by 40 percent from any new peak in my lifetime, I will follow in his footsteps,” said Macquarie’s Robertson.

____________________________

My Take: Foreclosures across much of the United States are still a central part of the country’s real estate story.  Many troubled borrowers are waiting months to find out if they qualify for a home mortgage modification to get out from under, particularly those who are considered ‘up-side down,’ meaning their loans are now higher than the value of their homes.  Others are reported to be simply walking away from their mortgages, thinking foreclosure is the best option they have.  Australia’s market may be healthy again, but that doesn’t mean we here in America are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Small business owners in particular who bought homes in the market’s boom are struggling to stay afloat, threatening to break the backbone of the nation’s economy.  That includes shops selling everything from model trains, aviation gifts, Carhartt clothes, and Key West Florida sport fishing trips to tourists.

The only consolation is that we are beginning to see jobs opening up again, which is good.  Now the maker of wood propellers or model locomotives may not be seeing customers banging down their doors yet, but consumer confidence levels are rising again.  More and more people are apt to spend money now on extraneous things, like those fancy Carhartt work boots or a Key West charter fishing tour with their families.  But the days of getting a mortgage loan with a wink and a nod and a sticky note documenting your income and expenses are over, which means the housing market, when it does finally rebound, will strengthen to pre-2003 levels once again and this time around buyers and lenders alike will likely be more reputable and certainly more accountable.

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