Eideard

A union representing Dutch nurses will launch a national campaign Friday against demands for sexual services by patients who claim it should be part of their standard care.

The union, NU’91, is calling the campaign “I Draw The Line Here,” with an advert that features a young woman covering her face with crossed hands.

The union said in a statement Thursday that the campaign follows a complaint it had received in the last week from a 24-year-old woman who said a 42-year-old disabled man asked her to provide sexual services as part of his care at home.

The young woman witnessed some of the man’s other nurses offering him sexual gratification, the union said. When she refused to do the same, he tried to dismiss her on the grounds that she was unfit to provide care…

The case has been reported to police, the union added.

What is there to say?

Is this guy a very attractive patient? Has he been watching too much Japanese pr0n? Are the other nurses hard up – or just extra horny?

Just another Republican KKKlown
WMxDesign

In the aftermath of an attempt to blow up an airliner Democrats charge a top U.S. security post remains vacant because of a Republican senator’s opposition.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has blocked President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration due to concern over the prospect that TSA employees might unionize, McClatchy Newspapers reported. The nominee, Erroll Southers, is a former FBI special agent and assistant chief for homeland security and intelligence at Los Angeles World Airports Police Department.

His nomination has been approved by two U.S. Senate committees and the TSA is being led by an acting administrator pending a vote in the full Senate.

Marshall McClain, the president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, said the Senate should have already confirmed the appointment by now.

“Friday’s terrorist attack on U.S. aviation makes it all the more imperative that there be no further delays in filling this crucial position,” he said.

DeMint said he was holding up the nomination until he could get clarification on Southers’ position on unionization of TSA workers, McClatchy reported. In a statement, DeMint called the Christmas Day attack “a perfect example of why the Obama administration should not unionize the TSA.”

What century do some of these Republicans live in? The right to collective bargaining has been established for decades – yet this backwards thug uses the arcane procedures of our Congress to delay the appointment of a police officer to satisfy his fear of democracy.

Just one more moment in the history of the United States where and when I wish voters were informed, bright and brave.

Fiat Bravo starts at prices below Saturn in Europe

Chrysler has secured court approval to sell most of its assets to a consortium led by Italy’s Fiat. The move, which is backed by both the US and Canadian governments, should enable Chrysler to exit bankruptcy protection in the near future.

Under the terms of the deal, Fiat will control 20% of Chrysler, while 68% will be owned by a union trust, and the two governments will share 12%.

It comes as General Motors is about to file for its own bankruptcy protection.

Under the terms of the Fiat-led deal, creditors holding $6.9 billion of Chrysler debt will receive only $2bn. However, 90% of them backed the deal.

Fiat is not paying anything for its 20% stake, which will give it access to the US car market. It has the option to increase its shareholding in Chrysler in the future. In return, Chrysler will be able to take advantage of Fiat’s expertise in making smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in its existing US factories.

The introduction of much of the broad Fiat line should get some factories back up to production. Though part of the equation depends on Americans learning from changing world circumstances and refusing to dash back to gas guzzlers every time the price of gasoline drops 5¢ a gallon.

I’ve said it enough times. An old geezer like me really doesn’t need to buy another car unless I figure on living to 100. Though I could be tempted by a Dakota pickup with the 3-litre Cummins turbo-diesel – or smaller.

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Italian carmaker Fiat and US giant Chrysler have agreed to create a global strategic alliance. Under the terms of the deal, Fiat will get a 35% stake in Chrysler. In return, the US firm will get access to Fiat’s fuel-efficient vehicle technologies.

The United Auto Workers union (UAW) welcomed the deal, saying it could help preserve US manufacturing jobs.

The statement points out, however, that the agreement does not commit Fiat to funding Chrysler in future.

Chrysler has received an emergency loan from the US government worth $4bn, while Fiat has said it needed a partner because it was too small to continue on its own. Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne said the deal represented “a key milestone in the rapidly changing landscape of the automotive sector”.

Trading in Fiat shares had earlier been suspended amid speculation of a possible partnership with the US firm. After the announcement was made and trading resumed, Fiat shares rose 3.5%.

Now, bring over the new Fiat 500 with the 1.3 liter turbodiesel. Yes!

The holiday came about through fifty years of relentless promotion by Sarah Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine. She promoted it in columns and stories in her magazine until President Abraham Lincoln finally bestowed it national recognition…

Hale was a New Hampshire widow struggling to support five children by her writing when, in the late 1820s, she came to the attention of Louis Godey, who had plans to launch a women’s magazine.

Godey hired Hale in 1827 to edit the publication, and she did so for fifty years until retirement in 1877. From the beginning, Wills explained, Hale was a crusading type. “She freely used her magazine to promote causes like women’s education, and to raise a monument to honor those who fought and died at Bunker Hill. And Thanksgiving was another of her big concerns.”

Hale was concerned over increasing factionalism in American society, and envisioned Thanksgiving as a commonly-celebrated, patriotic holiday that would unite Americans in common purpose and values. She viewed those values as rooted in domesticity, and rural simplicity over urban sophistication…

Current fashions in football and dedication to shopping are not what she ever intended.