Taranto

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life 
From the Boston Globe:

It's happening in offices across the country. Employees leave, and their vacant cubicles remain.

Rather than let this "empty-desk syndrome'' serve as a daily reminder of laid-off colleagues and days of bigger profits gone by, some companies are getting creative. They're putting up walls and subletting part of their space to another firm, or moving in with another company and sharing a receptionist.

Others have found ways to capitalize on the extra space, ripping out vacant cubicles to set up new meeting areas, or adding new facets to their business. A few are doing away with their offices altogether.

The headline: "With Layoffs, Room for Creativity." We have to say, when the Democrats no longer in power, we're going to miss these cheery stories about the dismal economy.

Two Papers in One!--I

• "There's a problem: conservative politicians, clinging to an out-of-date ideology--and, perhaps, betting (wrongly) that their constituents are relatively well positioned to ride out the storm--are standing in the way of action. No, I'm not talking about Bob Corker, the Senator from Nissan--I mean Tennessee--and his fellow Republicans. . . . I am, instead, talking about Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and her economic officials, who have become the biggest obstacles to a much-needed European rescue plan."--former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, New York Times, Dec. 15, 2008
• "Why is Europe falling short? Poor leadership is part of the story. European banking officials, who completely missed the depth of the crisis, still seem weirdly complacent. And to hear anything in America comparable to the know-nothing diatribes of Germany's finance minister you have to listen to, well, Republicans."--Krugman, New York Times, March 16, 2009
• "The euro area economy grew 1 percent in the second quarter of this year, a much better rate than had been expected, as Germany's best quarterly performance since reunification compensated for slow growth in Spain and Italy and a sharp decline in Greece, according to data released Friday."--news story, New York Times, Aug. 14, 2010

Two Papers in One!--II

• "The bursting of the real estate bubble and the ensuing recession have hurt jobs, home prices and now Social Security. This year, the system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office."--news story, New York Times, March 25, 2010
• "Social Security's attackers claim that they're concerned about the program's financial future. But their math doesn't add up, and their hostility isn't really about dollars and cents. Instead, it's about ideology and posturing. . . . Social Security has been running surpluses for the last quarter-century."--former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, New York Times, Aug. 16, 2010

 

We Demand the Berth Certificate! 
"Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I.," the Boston Herald reports:

Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven--like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners?

Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

Kerry's chief of staff, the delightfully named David Wade, denies that the haughty, French-looking former junior senator, who by the way served in Vietnam, chose the out-of-state berth for tax reasons. Meanwhile,CNSNews.com reports:

Speaking at a town hall-style meeting promoting climate change legislation on Thursday, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) predicted there will be "an ice-free Arctic" in "five or 10 years."

What will he do with all the money he saves when he can move his yacht there?

James Taranto-

A spat has broken out between the U.N.'s World Health Organization and Amnesty International, a left-leaning human-rights group, over Pyongyang's patient care, the Associated Press reports:

Amnesty's report on Thursday described North Korea's health care system in shambles, with doctors sometimes performing amputations without anesthesia and working by candlelight in hospitals lacking essential medicine, heat and power. It also raised questions about whether coverage is universal as it--and WHO--claimed, noting most interviewees said they or a family member had given doctors cigarettes, alcohol or money to receive medical care. And those without any of these reported that they could get no health assistance at all.

WHO's Paul Garwood claims that Amnesty's report is "not up to the U.N. agency's scientific approach to evaluating health care":

The issue is sensitive for WHO because its director-general, Margaret Chan, praised the communist country after a visit in April and described its health care as the "envy" of most developing nations. . . . Garwood and WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib insisted that Amnesty's report was complementary to their boss' observations. . . . Asked Friday what countries were envious of North Korea's health, Chaib said she couldn't name any.

Islamism

Fedor himself was the picture of civility following his first real career loss:

"I was made into a kind of an idol," he said at the post-fight press conference. "I'm a normal human being as all of us, and if it is God's will, the next fight I will win."