Should NBA Players Be Paid To Play In the Olympics?

MIAMI – Heat guard Dwyane Wade says money is not his motivation for the London Games this summer. In a statement Thursday, Wade said, “I do not want to be paid to go to the Olympics.” Wade was quoted Wednesday saying he thinks “guys should be compensated” for playing over the summer and noted the schedule demands of being an Olympian. “It’s a lot of things you do for the Olympics — a lot of jerseys you sell,” Wade said after the Heat’s practice on Wednesday in advance of Thursday’s game against Chicago. “We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it’s not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it.” “The biggest thing is now you get no rest,” Wade said. “So you go to the end of the season, [Team USA] training camp is two weeks later. You’re giving up a lot to do it. It’s something you want to do. But it’s taxing on your body. You’re not playing for the dollar. But it would be nice if you would get compensated.”

Now in all fairness to Dwayne this whole players being compensated for the Olympics thing was started by Ray Allen. So if you’re going to call Wade a dickhead in this specific case you also have to call Ray a dick which I can’t and won’t do. Instead I will say they actually kind of have a point. Yeah on the outside it seems unreal that gadzillioniares would complain about getting paid to play in the Olympics. And yes I think it’s gross they’d whine about how much rest they get blah, blah, blah.   Hey newflash fellas.  The rest of the world gets 2 weeks of vacation a year and they make no money and hate their lives.

But here is where I agree with them. The Olympics is not a non profit organization right? Like somebody is making serious money here. So in that regard it is exactly like the NCAA. Therefore if I was a player and I know that some cracker somewhere is making millions off me and I’m getting squat that would piss me off. I don’t care how rich I am. Give me the money and I’ll donate it to some charity or something. But the facts are the Olympics make millions on the pro players jerseys and shit. Money that wouldn’t exist if the pros weren’t playing. That money has to go somewhere and I’m guessing it goes right into the pockets of the US Olympic committee people. That’s where I think NBA and NHL guys have a grudge.  Not that they need the extra cash. It’s just the fact that you know you are getting used. That would bother the shit out of me.   Typical Dwayne Wade though.   Even when he kind of has a point he flip flops because Bron Bron has stolen his spine.

By elpresidente  

Italy and Spain test European bailout plan

By Bill Wilson

In the past month, the European sovereign debt crisis has reared its ugly head again.

No, not in Greece, but this time in Italy and Spain. There interest rates on 10-year bonds have jumped from lows of 4.81 percent and 4.87 percent, respectively, to 5.53 percent and 5.87 percent.

Last year, rates had gotten as high as 7.26 percent in Italy, and 6.7 percent in Spain, before the European Central Bank (ECB) intervened with more than €1 trillion of kick-the-can low interest refinance loans to banks so they have the money to continue to lend to bankrupt governments.

During that time, according to the New York Times’ Liz Alderman, “Spanish banks increased their holdings of government securities by €68 billion and Italian banks by €54 billion, both buying especially debt from their own countries.”

After that, rates collapsed, but are again creeping up, this time over concerns Spain cannot control its deficits. That’s not really news. Spain had announced at the end of last year its deficit would be much larger than expected.

What’s different now is Spain did not have much debt coming due earlier this year — just €1.3 billion in Feb. — until April, when it has a full €11.9 billion to refinance. That was when the rates suddenly spiked.
For comparative purposes, Italy had €53.4 billion coming due in the first quarter, during which rates were collapsing.

This distinction has not been lost on the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who last month blamed rising rates on Spain, saying, “It doesn’t take much to recreate risk of contagion… [Spain] hasn’t paid enough attention to its public accounts.”

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, not wishing to be singled out, then warned Italy against issuing such proclamations in a rather pathetic display.

Said Rajoy, “We hope that they assume their responsibilities and are more cautious in their statements. We don't talk about other countries. We wish other EU and euro zone countries the best. What is good for Spain is good for the euro zone.” Indeed.
Get full story here.

Evil Santa

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The real employment situation

By Rick Manning
As originally published at TheHill.com.
Mark Twain famously misquoted British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli as saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”
The reported unemployment numbers prove the validity of the quote, even as the source is in dispute.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March, there were 31,000 fewer people employed than in February, yet the politically useful unemployment rate went down to 8.2 percent: a decline that is sure to be played up in campaign commercials as evidence that the Obama economy is recovering.

Unfortunately, a review of the data behind the unemployment numbers reveals an entirely different story.

In spite of the overall non-institutionalized work-eligible civilian population increasing by 7.9 million since Obama became president, 150,000 fewer Americans have jobs today than in January 2009.

That’s right, the number of those eligible to participate in the workforce jumped by almost 8 million, yet fewer people have jobs today than the day Obama took office. I would not expect to see that statistic in his reelection campaign ads.

Most significantly, the percentage of people who are eligible to work who participate in the workforce has dropped by 1.9 percent.

To put this in perspective, if the labor participation rate had remained the same during Obama’s tenure in office as it was in January 2009, there would be 4.7 million more people counted in the workforce.

If these 4.7 million people had not dropped out of the workforce in the past three years, the unemployment rate reported by the Labor Department would be 10.8 percent. Somehow, I don’t think that the Obama campaign would be too excited by this number.

Among the many oddities in the March jobs report, one other one sticks out, as it directly contradicts the rosy weekly Labor Department reports on unemployment insurance claims declining.
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Zimmerman to make first court appearance

SANFORD, Fla. — Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman barely spoke a word and showed little emotion during his first courtroom appearance since being charged with murder.

Dressed in a gray jail jump suit, Zimmerman, 28, looked straight ahead and said, “yes, sir,” to basic questions asked of him by Seminole County Judge Mark Herr.

Zimmerman’s arraignment was set for May 29, when he’ll likely plead not guilty to second-degree murder for the death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

“He’s tired — he’s going through some tribulation of his own, being the focus of the intensity of this event,” defense lawyer Mark O’Mara said outside court, following the four-minute hearing.

“He’s frightened.”

George Zimmerman appears for a bond hearing in Sanford, Florida today.

Zimmerman gunned down Martin on Feb. 26 after confronting the 17-year-old inside a gated community.
Martin and his dad were visiting the elder’s girlfriend. They planned to watch the NBA All-Star game and Martin went to a local store to buy a bag of Skittles.

It was during Martin’s return when the neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman spotted him and called 911.

Zimmerman, whose dad is white and mom is Peruvian, described Martin as a young African American acting suspiciously.

Minutes later, Martin was shot dead by Zimmerman and cops initially accepted his story that he was acted out of self-defense.

Martin’s slaying and local police handling of the case sparked a national outcry, leading to the appointment of special prosecutor Angela Corey, who filed charges against Zimmerman.

“He is concerned about getting a fair trial and a fair presentation,” O’Mara said. “He is a client who has a lot of hatred focused on him. I’m hoping the hatred settles down … He has the right to his own safety and the case being tried before a judge and jury.”

In the proforma courtroom move, Judge Herr found there was probable cause to move the case along.
Zimmerman — his head shaved down to stubble and sporting a thin goatee — had been in hiding before his arrest and court appearance today.

O’Mara declined to detail how he’d argue that Zimmerman should be protected by Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which gives wide latitude to citizens to use lethal force if they feel threatened.
O’Mara offered his condolences to Martin’s parents and loved ones.

“They lost their son we are not going to be using words against the mother of a deceased child,” he said.
Zimmerman is being held without bail, but his lawyer said the 28-year-old will make a bond application in the next few weeks.

Zimmerman is in protective custody, O’Mara said.

Zimmerman faces up to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

Earlier in the day, Martin’s mom Sybrina Fulton called her son’s slaying an “accident.”

“I believe it was an accident,” Fulton told NBC’s “Today” show. “I believe that it just got out of control, and he couldn’t turn the clock back. I would ask him, did he know that that was a minor, that that was a teenager and that he did not have a weapon? I would ask him that I understand that his family is hurting, but think about our family that lost our teenage son. I mean, it’s just very difficult to live with day in and day out. I’m sure his parents can pick up the phone and call him, but we can’t pick up the phone and call Trayvon anymore.”

Later, she clarified the comment.

“Their meeting was the accident,” Fulton said. “That was the accident. Not the actual act of him shooting him. That was murder … They were never supposed to meet.”

Read more at The NY Post

Christie Administration Moves Forward to Turn Around Lowest-Performing Schools in the State, Provide Targeted Support for Improvement, and to Reward Successful Schools

Department announces final list of Priority, Focus, and Reward Schools as part of state's new accountability system

Trenton, NJ - The Christie Administration today announced the final list of Priority, Focus, and Reward Schools as part of its new statewide accountability system developed through flexibility from No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  The Department of Education will invest heavily in the state's lowest-performing schools (Priority Schools) and provide targeted supports to schools with specific achievement concerns (Focus Schools) to ensure all students are on track for college and career readiness.  For the first time, these school designations were developed by taking into account both growth and absolute proficiency to provide a more complete picture of school performance and the needs of individual schools.

"We are entering a new age of school accountability in New Jersey, one that frees high-performing schools from state interference and defines a stronger investment from the state to turn around pockets of persistent academic failure," said Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf.  "No longer can we stand on the sidelines when our schools are not preparing students in New Jersey to graduate from high school ready for college and a career.  There is a moral imperative for the state to take a stronger role in persistently failing schools and to work collaboratively with communities and districts to give all students a fair chance."

For complete information: http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/2012/0411rac.htm