10.05.07
Posted in News at 2:56 pm by Valentine
From the Boston.com Business blog:
Dunkin’ Brands Inc. said today it is recalling about 1 million pink-and-orange glow sticks distributed as part of a promotion at its Dunkin’ Donuts coffee-and-baked goods chain.
The Canton-based company said it is voluntarily recalling the glow sticks because they were not labeled properly to warn customers that the cap and lanyard are a choking hazard to children under the age of three when the pieces are dislodged from the glow stick.
Dunkin’ Donuts distributed the glow sticks free with every purchase of a box of 25 or 50 Munchkins donut holes beginning the week of Sept. 24.
The company said it has not received any complaints or reports of injury.
Dunkin’ Brands recommended taking the glow sticks away from children and throwing them away. (AP)
Are they seriously throwing away thousands of perfectly good glow-sticks? These won’t explode in a shower of mildly noxious chemicals. They aren’t coated with lead paint. They won’t give you splinters. The only danger is that the lanyard doesn’t warn unsuspecting parents of the potential for strangulation. Those boxes of munchkins they are sold with are more likely to kill somebody than the glow-sticks.
Send them over to my house and I’ll take my chances. I’ll even eat a munchkin or two if I’m feeling really daring.
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06.05.07
Posted in Children, News at 4:03 pm by Valentine
Surprise! Congress is once again preparing to squash a gnat with a sledgehammer. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In 2005, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $585, or 81 percent of the $722 median for their male counterparts.” (Click here for the report.) Cait Murphy, assistant managing editor of Fortune, reports on this issue and the proposed legislative remedy. I highly recommend reading her article, as it is both thorough and balanced. Read the rest of this entry »
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05.21.07
Posted in News at 9:59 am by Valentine
More concerns about the safety of Chinese exports. At the very least, we need strict “country of origin” labeling laws for any products originating in China or containing ingredients that originated in China. The FDA cannot reliably intercept tainted shipments.
Previous article and links:
http://www.strangelandblog.com/2007/05/10/chinese-food-safety/
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05.18.07
Posted in News at 1:07 pm by Valentine
“A bipartisan group of senators and President Bush agreed yesterday to a potentially historic deal on an immigration bill that would give 12 million undocumented residents the chance to become legal Americans while beefing up border security and cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers.”
Read the Boston Globe article here, with further analysis here.
Everybody agrees that the current system is broken. Roughly 4% of the people in this country are here illegally. The USCIS is drowning under a multi-year backlog of applications for citizenship. Legal immigrants with valuable technical training are stymied by a shortage of visas, while unskilled hordes swarm freely across our borders.
I do not understand the issue thoroughly enough to judge the proposed solution, but it sounds like this proposal tackles the problem on multiple fronts. The ultimate solution should welcome those who can contribute positively to the country while restricting the flow of those who have less to offer. (A selfish view, perhaps, but I am not ready to embrace unrestricted immigration.)
Most importantly, all those who live and work in the United States must be documented and taxed. We need to provide legal avenues to meet legitimate business needs, then crack down on those who continue to bypass the law.
Your thoughts?
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05.16.07
Posted in News at 10:41 am by Valentine
Following the example set by New York City, the City of Brookline is considering its own trans-fat ban. What are the implications of this? Does it make sense for a minor municipality to enact such a ban? Read the rest of this entry »
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05.10.07
Posted in News at 9:22 pm by Valentine
There is a very simple answer to proponents of unfettered capitalism: read “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, telling a story of the Chicago meat-processing plants around the beginning of the twentieth century. The working conditions were dreadful, wages were dismally low. Sanitation was non-existent, and unspeakable things made their way into the vats. Read the rest of this entry »
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05.05.07
Posted in News at 9:59 pm by Valentine
“The administrative judge — whose job, mind you, entails determining civil infractions and penalties — claimed that he deserves $65,462,500 in damages for the “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort” caused by the loss of his suit pants.”
This is simply a sick joke, right? Please tell me that nobody would act like such a fool (and that nobody would take him seriously if he did)!
Update: Aug. 10, 2007
The Chung’s fought the suit. They won. Now the plaintiff may be on the hook for $83,000 in legal fees (though he is fighting that as well). Yes, there are still shreds of sanity in the world.
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04.29.07
Posted in Finance, News at 2:08 pm by Valentine
A recent rumor suggests the Democratic leadership has reached consensus on a plan to “reform” the Alternative Minimum Tax. While I’ve never met a tax that was broadly popular, the AMT has received more than its share of bad press in recent years. Why so much angst?
Originally created in 1969 to answer a couple dozen millionaires who had creatively used massive deductions to eliminate their tax liability, the AMT is a parallel tax system with a higher exemption ($62,550 for the 2006 tax year), fewer allowable deductions, and a lower top tax rate. Those who might potentially be eligible must calculate their tax bill under both systems, with their actual liability being the greater of the two. (In strict usage, the term “AMT” refers only to the amount owed that is above and beyond the regular income tax.)
So, who is affected? Read the rest of this entry »
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04.26.07
Posted in News at 8:44 pm by Valentine
Massachusetts prides itself on being progressive. It remains the only one of the 50 states to permit same-sex marriages, is seeking to implement universal health insurance, and was the first in the nation to establish a system for awarding and trading greenhouse gas emissions credits. While this willingness to lead is laudable, even if one does not always agree with the goals, I fear that trailblazing legislation is also prone to misstep.
In today’s Globe we read, “The Boston City Council wants to ban the use of plastic shopping bags at supermarkets, pharmacies, and convenience stores in the city, saying the ubiquitous bags are a hazard to the environment and a maddening blight of the landscape.” To borrow an analogy from the president of the Massachusetts Food Association, this proposed legislation is like attempting to swat a fly with a sledgehammer. Not only are you likely to wreak a lot of unintended damage, but you most likely won’t even kill the fly! Read the rest of this entry »
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