Forums: Private Label Rights

As in all major government takeovers of private companies in Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez declared that seizing beer-and-food giant Polar's facilities here would mark another victory for the poor in the country's march toward socialism. "Why is it that Polar has so much money?" Chávez asked in a February speech ... Except this time, the president's plans went badly awry, ... Polar [fought] back by taking its case to the Supreme Court, [and] its employees have risen up, too, rallying in opposition to Chávez's edict and holding all-night vigils to prevent a takeover. ... employees said they oppose the government...

The so-called “Great Debate” at the National Space Society’s (NSS) International Space and Development Conference (ISDC) in Chicago on Saturday afternoon featuring Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin and former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart was something of a dud, in part because it wasn’t that much of a debate: after ten-minute opening statements by Zubrin (who opposes the agency’s proposed plans) and Schweickart (who supports them), the floor was turned over to the audience, some of whom asked questions of the two, and others who simply expressed their opinions. Conference organizers explained that the event wasn’t intended to be a debate...

Private pensions to fund housingPlan will offer lucrative returns on bonds linked to infrastructure projects May 30, 2010 The Scottish and UK governments are to target private pension funds to raise capital for public-sector infrastructure projects. Faced with swingeing budget cuts and a fall in bank lending, Alex Salmond and Vince Cable, the British business secretary, plan to offer private pension firms lucrative returns on government bonds linked to social housing, transport and green energy developments. Currently, many of the funds, worth about £1 trillion, are investing in American corporate bonds that offer a higher rate of return than UK...

WASHINGTON — Top military officials have continued to rely on a secret network of private spies who have produced hundreds of reports from deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to American officials and businessmen, despite concerns among some in the military about the legality of the operation. Earlier this year, government officials admitted that the military had sent a group of former Central Intelligence Agency officers and retired Special Operations troops into the region to collect information — some of which was used to track and kill people suspected of being militants. Many portrayed it as a rogue operation that...

Colorado Rafters, Anglers Square Off Over Use of Streams Through Private Land In a clash that some lawmakers have dubbed "Row v. Wade," rafters and anglers are squaring off over rights to prized Colorado waterways. The debate has spilled into the state legislature and inspired at least 24 citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives. The core question: Do paddlers have an absolute right to float down any river in the state, even rivers that run through private property reserved for fly-fishing? Steve Roberts says no. His family owns a 150-acre dude ranch amid the aspens and lodgepole pines of southwest Colorado. The Taylor...

The brown coats are a comming November is going to be a doozy

TRENTON — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is looking at ways to privatize jobs to save money as he tries to find to plug a projected $11 billion budget deficit for the 2011 fiscal year. Christie will sign an executive order today to create a task force to recommend ways to privatize jobs. The administration did not specify which jobs or how many could be privatized. Speaking on New York radio station WCBS, Christie said he’s looking at privatization as a way around the “sweet deal” former Gov. Jon Corzine made with state workers union. Earlier in the week, Christie...

Baltimore issues call to contractors for snow removal helpPosted: 1:30 pm Wed, February 10, 2010 By Robbie Whelan Daily Record Business Writer With Marylanders battling the fiercest snowstorm in generations, Baltimore officials have called on local businesses to help deal with snowfall that is choking roadways and confining city residents to their homes. The National Weather Service warned Wednesday of “extremely dangerous” blizzard conditions in the Baltimore region, and as of 1 p.m., the seasonal snowfall totaled 72.3 inches at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. That’s the most since record-keeping began in Baltimore in 1893. The previous record, from 1995-96,...