h4As Firefox 2.x disrobes anti-phishing and heads for retirement/h4 pA second beta release of Firefox 3.1 is on the starting blocks, with the publication of an almost ready version of the latest edition of the open source browser due in days. A third beta is expected before Mozilla ships a final version of the software next year..../p

On the December 3 broadcast of ABC's World News, national correspondent Chris Bury falsely claimed that "Ford, Chrysler, and GM pay union workers more than $73 an hour in wages and benefits." In fact, according to General Motors, which reportedly puts its current hourly labor costs at around $69, the figure is based not only on current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for current retirees, as Media Matters for America has noted.

Bury described the alleged $73 an hour pay rate as "the big stuff" that the United Auto Workers "did not offer to give back" as a concession to keep GM, Chrysler, and Ford from falling into bankruptcy. But the Associated Press reported that GM "says its total hourly labor costs dropped 6 percent this year from pre-contract levels, from $73.26 in 2006 to around $69 per hour," and according to a GM spokesman, "The new cost includes laborers' wages of $29.78 per hour, plus benefits, pensions and the cost of providing health care to more than 432,000 GM retirees."

Bury joins numerous other media figures who have advanced the falsehood that U.S. autoworkers employed by General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler earn $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits.

From the December 3 broadcast of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

BURY: But the union did not offer to give back the big stuff: pay and benefits that remain a fundamental problem. Ford, Chrysler, and GM pay union workers more than $73 an hour in wages and benefits. Japanese plants here shell out just over $44. For GM, that translates into $1,500 more per car than Toyota has to pay.

DAVID COLE (chairman, Center for Automotive Research): That's like trying to run a marathon, and your competition is wearing track shoes and a great track outfit, and you're wearing galoshes and an overcoat and carrying a bowling ball.

BURY: That competitive gap will shrink dramatically when big cuts in pay and benefits kick in over the next few years, but that's too late. Today the union chief bristled at blaming autoworkers.

RON GETTELFINGER (president, United Auto Workers): Are we going to take a look at what's happened to our economy, to the housing crunch, to the Wall Street bailout, and the failures on Wall Street? Those are the things that we need to look at.

BURY: The concessions may not be enough to stem the bleeding, but they may help convince Congress that Detroit is serious about changing its ways, and today, President-elect Obama suggested he is warming to the bailout plan.

On the December 4 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-hosts Joe Scarborough, Mike Barnicle, and Mika Brzezinski debunked the false claim, advanced by many in the media, that autoworkers employed by U.S. auto manufacturers receive $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits.

After Democratic strategist Bob Shrum noted that "there's this one crazy statistic" that autoworkers are "paid 70 bucks an hour," Barnicle said: "The $77 an hour thing is not true. It's the compilation of all the benefits." Scarborough later added, "[J]ust so everybody knows, when we talk about $77 or $45, we're not only talking about the money, the benefits, everything else, retirement, we're also talking about the money to -- the legacy costs of the existing retirees." Shrum replied, "It's health care for ... people retired 25 years ago. I mean, that money's not going to anyone who's working there now." Brzezinski replied, "And they have a lot to carry with that." Scarborough concluded: "It's very misleading when you're talking about $77 an hour in labor costs. "

As Media Matters for America has noted, according to General Motors, the figure representing the hourly cost of labor to U.S. automakers -- a cost that GM puts at $69 -- includes not only current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for current retirees. Notwithstanding this fact, numerous media figures and outlets have advanced the falsehood that autoworkers receive $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits, some using it to blame autoworkers for the domestic auto industry's financial straits.

From the December 4 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

SHRUM: There may be a better way, and I think the far better way is for Congress to come up with a serious plan, have a serious oversight board. Remember here that we're not just beating up the unions. After all, these are the people who represent those folks in Detroit. Well, there's this one crazy statistic, have you seen it? That they're paid 70 bucks an hour for auto workers?

BRZEZINSKI: Well, yes. This is debatable.

SHRUM: It's not true. It's --

BARNICLE: The $77 an hour thing is not true. It's the compilation of all the benefits.

SHRUM: Right. And the benefits of the retirees and the pensions of the retirees. It's actually about $28 an hour.

BRZEZINSKI: Really. OK, now we --

SCARBOROUGH: The thing is, even on that point, if you're comparing the $77 to the $45 that foreign automakers do, even that is only a two-year deal because they've already made corrective measures.

BRZEZINSKI: Renegotiated.

SCARBOROUGH: So, that $77 figure goes down to $45, $46 in 2010.

BARNICLE: And new hirees, I believe -- don't hold me to this -- but under the new contract that starts January 1, new hirees are receiving like $18 or $19 an hour, so it goes down even further.

SCARBOROUGH: And again, just so everybody knows, when we talk about $77 or $45, we're not only talking about the money, the benefits, everything else, retirement, we're also talking about the money to -- the legacy costs of the existing retirees.

BRZEZINSKI: Well, yes.

SHRUM: It's health care for -- health care for people retired 25 years ago.

BRZEZINSKI: Exactly.

SHRUM: I mean, that money's not going to anyone who's working there now.

BRZEZINSKI: And they have a lot to carry with that.

SCARBOROUGH: It's very misleading when you're talking about $77 an hour in labor costs.

BRZEZINSKI: That's true.

On the December 3 edition of CNN's Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer falsely claimed that an autoworker who belongs to the United Auto Workers "makes $73 an hour, on average, when you factor in all the benefits, compared to $48 an hour for nonunion autoworkers here in the United States." In fact, according to General Motors, the figure representing the hourly cost of labor to U.S. automakers -- a cost that GM puts at $69 -- includes not only current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for retirees, as Media Matters for America has noted.

CNN also aired the following graphic echoing Blitzer's falsehood:

spana href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1028536" target="_blank"Dissident Anglicans/a/spanbr / "Dissident Anglicans in Canada and the United States took the giant step of forming a new church on Wednesday, another step in the deepening schism between orthodox and liberal elements of the faith." hr / spana href="http://www.ccwblog.org/2008/12/free-december.html" target="_blank"Free December at CCW/a/spanbr / Christian Communicators Worldwide (think Jim Elliff) is giving away a copy of every one of their books. hr / spana href="http://www.traviscarden.com/archive/2007/01/08/total-depravity-verse-list" target="_blank"Total Depravity Verse List/a/spanbr / Travis has compiled an excellent list of verses dealing with total depravity. This is a good one to file away since sooner or later you'll want these verses! hr / spana href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/11/22/sm_immersion.xml" target="_blank"The Immersion Project/a/spanbr / "Robbie Cooper's film stills capture children's faces as they play violent videogames and form the basis of an art project that could also help us understand the effects of spending time in a virtual world." hr / spana href="http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2008/3443_Kissing_Retirement_Goodbye/" target="_blank"Kissing Retirement Goodbye/a/spanbr / John Ensor: "I kissed retirement goodbye--at least the kind traditionally planned for in America. My mother has finally persuaded me that there are better things to do when I reach her age." hr / spana href="http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2861" target="_blank"Children and Media/a/spanbr / "A new report indicates that the average child in America now spends 45 hours a week immersed in the media -- a multiple of the hours spent with parents or in the classroom." hr / spana href="http://www.heritagebooks.org/bookstore/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=9267" target="_blank"Deal of the Day: The Gospel Ministry/a/spanbr / "In this book, Foxcroft exhorts ministers to make Christ the focal point of their preaching. He shows the importance of character in ministry, calling for pastors to be wise and prudent in every aspect of their lives." RHB has this book on sale for only $8 today only (that's 50% off). hr /br /strongSponsor:/strongbr /a href="http://www.rpmissions.com"img src="http://www.adgrab.org/www/images/RPMissions.jpg" //adiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/challies/XhEt?a=59LkO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/challies/XhEt?i=59LkO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/challies/XhEt?a=eDCbo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/challies/XhEt?i=eDCbo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/challies/XhEt?a=ryauo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/challies/XhEt?i=ryauo" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/challies/XhEt/~4/474627702" height="1" width="1"/

As the economic crisis continues to hammer Americans, many are turning to desperate measures by dipping into their retirement funds to make ends meet, according to a survey released Thursday.img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/money_latest/~4/jgg89ZaEiWM" height="1" width="1"/

Chris Pullman was the VP of Design at WGBH in Boston for 35 years.

Viewers of PBS will recognize Pullman's work in the opening title sequences of "Masterpiece Theatre" and "Antiques Roadshow" and the WGBH animated on-air signature, which is used at the end of every program produced by the public broadcaster.

Pullman recently retired and shared ten lessons he's learned over the years.

2 Work with people you like and respect.

Birds of a feather flock together. That is a natural thing. Most of the people here at WGBH are here (or certainly stay here) because of our mission. Certainly, my long tenure has been largely because of the people in this room with whom I've shared such personal and heart-warming recollections of our time together. Since April, when I first announced my intention to leave WGBH, the private expression of these feelings has been so gratifying, both personally and professionally, that I recently suggested that maybe we should institute the policy of encouraging individuals to make periodic "mock retirement" announcements, with the goal of releasing more regularly the flow of kind remarks for the nourishment of the individual, since we are otherwise so reticent to praise or encourage others in our busy, self-centered daily lives.

(link)

In a December 3 column published in The Washington Times, syndicated columnist Jack Kelly falsely claimed that "GM, Ford and Chrysler pay their employees an average of $73 an hour." Similarly, in a December 1 editorial, the Times wrote: "As Washington Times reporter David M. Dickson recently reported [in a November 24 article]: 'Before contract negotiations between the UAW [United Auto Workers] and General Motors commenced last year, UAW workers earned between $70 and $75 per hour in wages and benefits.' " In fact, according to General Motors, which reportedly puts its current hourly labor costs at $69, this figure is based not only on the cost to the auto companies of current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also of retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for current retirees, as Media Matters for America has noted.

As Media Matters documented, on November 28, the Times published an op-ed by Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner in which Feulner falsely claimed that "UAW employees earn three times as much as an average blue collar worker makes - $75 per hour on average in wages and benefits." Numerous other media figures have also advanced the falsehood that autoworkers earn $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits, some using it to blame autoworkers for the domestic auto industry's financial straits.

From Kelly's December 3 column:

Soaring gasoline prices in the summer and the stock market crash in the fall have made their illness acute, but the "Big Three" have been losing money for years. The chief reason is their higher labor costs make their cars about $2,000 more expensive than comparable foreign models.

General Motors (19 percent) and Toyota (18 percent) have about the same share of the U.S. car market. But Toyota has enormous efficiency advantages. GM has eight product lines, Toyota three. GM has 7,000 dealers, Toyota, 1,500. Toyota pays its workers in the United States an average of $48 an hour. GM, Ford and Chrysler pay their employees an average of $73 an hour. For GM to have a chance to become competitive, it must cut its product line at least 50 percent, its dealer network at least 50 percent, and its labor costs at least 30 percent.

But any bailout that's acceptable to the United Auto Workers - and thus to the Democrats in Congress - will be designed to avoid the pain such cutbacks would inflict.

The current environment for auto sales is toxic, and is likely to remain so for at least a year. This means ever more and ever larger subsidies will be required to keep the doors of the Big Three open. Eventually taxpayers will run out of patience, or milk. To avoid discomfort now, we court catastrophe a short distance down the road.

If the Big Three sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection now, one strong company could emerge from the wreckage. Surely the United States would be better served by having one healthy car company instead of three terminally ill ones. But good sense, alas, rarely makes political sense.

From the Washington Times' December 1 editorial:

The American auto industry's "Big Three"(Chrysler, General Motors and Ford) have asked Congress to help their failing companies with a $25 billion cash injection. The loan - unlike the other $25 billion offered, which they did not use - would be made on an emergency basis to help keep operations open. Essentially, automakers were being asked to revamp facilities on their own dime and then be paid back by the Department of Energy. Much of the Big Three's financial problems stem from the irresponsible contracts its members have signed with the United Auto Workers (UAW).

As Washington Times reporter David M. Dickson recently reported: "Before contract negotiations between the UAW and General Motors commenced last year, UAW workers earned between $70 and $75 per hour in wages and benefits. International firms paid their nonunion workers about $45 per hour in wages and benefits. The hourly cost differential was between $25 and $30."

That disparity will be reduced over time as the new contract is implemented- [with wages leveling off to] an average of $40-45 an hour at GM. Quite clearly, union autoworkers have enjoyed salaries that are far beyond what their companies can afford, especially as sales have slowed by 10 percent during the economic downturn this year. It is important to note that foreign automakers have fared better by placing their plants in right-to-work states, as opposed to states with compulsory unionism like Michigan.

A federal judge has allowed a class-action lawsuit accusing telecommunications company Embarq Corp. of age discrimination and illegally canceling retirement benefits to move forward.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?a=28ijO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?i=28ijO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?a=h9V1o"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?i=h9V1o" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?a=SxTto"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?i=SxTto" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ibtimes/tech/~4/473769097" height="1" width="1"/

Le projet SHARE (Survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe), financé par l'Union européenne a montré, entre autres, que les femmes vivaient plus longtemps que les hommes, surtout dans les pays du sud de l'Europe, et que les hommes n'étaient pas

Information technology consultant SRA International Inc. said Wednesday Chief Financial Officer Steve Hughes will retire at the end of the company's fiscal year in June.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?a=LB5vO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?i=LB5vO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?a=TbnBo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?i=TbnBo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?a=MZWyo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/ibtimes/tech?i=MZWyo" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ibtimes/tech/~4/473684390" height="1" width="1"/