• US: 12 wks of unpaid leave by employers of 50 or more employees who have been employed for 12 mos. or longer
• Germany: 14-18 wks at 100%
• France: 16 wks at 80%
• Canada: 16-32 wks - 15 paid at 60% of wage
• Austria: 20 wks at 100%
• Italy: 24 wks paid at 80%, either parent
• Finland: 39 wks at 80%, either parent
• Norway: 42 wks at 100%
• Sweden: 52 wks, 39 at 90%, either parent....

• 2 women picked as top executives -
  1. Ellen R. Frank named president of Serono Labs - Becomes one of handful of women who run biotech firms [- Frank to succeed Hisham Samra as president of Mass.-based subsidiary of Geneva-based Ares-Serono Group gynecological pharmaceuticals], by Ronald Rosenberg, Boston Globe, D1.
  2. Zale [Corp.] appoints woman as chief [- Beryl Raff to succeed Robert DiNicola as chief executive of Dallas-based jewelry chain], AP via NYT, C12.

• [1 UPsizing]
  Motorola hiring 2,000 workers for cell phone division, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
  One of the world's biggest cellular phone makers said yesterday that it planned to hire about 2,000 people...to meet increasing demand for its products....
  [That's hopeful. As long as people aren't just using the cellfones to tell each other how to get foodstamps after they've been laid off.]
  The jobs would be added in the next six months at its plant in Harvard, Ill., which now has about 4,400 employees. Motorola is pushing to develop appealing models faster. The workers will be hired for about 30 different jobs, including assembly line, marketing and engineering positions. Shares...rose $4.875 to $100.

1. Catching up in Congress - Labor Day inaugurates a month of good intentions.... In Boston and Washington, however, the 'To Do' lists are crowded with tasks that are already overdue.  In both capitals and across the country, action is needed urgently, editorial, Boston Globe, A14.
   [Yeah, we in Massachusetts have been sitting here without a state budget for weeks. And Washington - pathetic. What kind of action do we need? The next editorial spells it out.]

2. Let the real debates begin, editorial, Boston Globe, A14.
   Enough of the fund-raising, the endorsements, the straw polls, the national polls, and the polls of New Hampshire residents, each of whom will be surveyed at least six times before the year is out.
   [Ah, boys & girls, you there in the editorial rooms of the Globe - we'd like to point out that you have a unique opportunity to grant your own wish. Just quit publishing this stuff! Just 'say no.']
   Presidential campaigns are still fueled in part by real debate, and it's time for this one to begin.... There is plenty to talk about.
   1. The strong domestic economy has failed to lift millions for whom opportunities are narrowiing.
   2. Public schools are poor or downright lousy in far too many districts.
   3. For many of the millions who are uninsured, health care would be better in Cuba.
   4. The long-term viability of Social Security and Medicare is in doubt.
   5. Race relations have far to go.
   6. Families want strengthening.
   7. Globally, the US role at a time of rapidly changing alliances needs debate and definition.
   Today would be a fine time to begin.
   [Well, Globe editors, you have just defined your task. Find the stories on these issues and publish them, even if (especially if!) you have to bump the stuff on polls and money.]

[Shimon Peres' shofar blast for Palestinian independence -]
9/04 A Palestinian entity as the first democratic Arab state - "The better Palestinians have it, the better the neighbors Israel will have. And better neighbors are more desirable than high fences", by Shimon Peres, Boston Globe, A15.
[At last an Israeli leader who follows the Hebrew Bible - "And why did I choose you, O Israel? Was it because you were the greatest of the nations? Impossible! You were the least of the nations. No, I chose you because I loved you. Now PASS IT ON!" - God (adapted from Deut. 7: 7-8)
[For secularists, at last an Israeli leader with some common sense, now they've netted that yahoo, Netanyahu. His years were not conspicous for common sense in the Promised Land. But it's shore great now to see a worthy successor to peacemaker/martyr Yitzhaq Rabin and the Biblical tradition.]
...Shimon Peres, a former Israeli prime minister, is minister of regional cooperation in the government of Ehud Barak [biosquib].
[Let's soak up some more of his inspiring prose...]
..\..The best guarantee for peace is the democratization of the region....
[Hey we know that's right. Even Sid Meyer, in his great God-game "Civilization," made it impossible for democracies to go to war unless someone else attacked them first.]
There is no need to kill or be killed, for it is possible to build an economy based more on science and technology and less on land and natural resources....
[True, to a point, and we haven't passed that point yet. Bucky Fuller used to put it like this, "We can do more with less."]
When we claim we are a light unto nations, we must also be prepared to help them build a lamp of their own.
[3fold "Amen" to that!]

9/03 Protection One, Lifeline merger plans canceled, Bloomberg via Boston Globe, C5.
...because of delays in winning regulatory approval.... [Calif.-based] Protection One, the second-largest US security alarm company, agreed in October 1998 to buy Framingham, MA-based medical alert company Lifeline Systems for $179 million in cash and stock....
[Chalk one up for economic diversity, jobs ... & regulators!]

9/03 Tax takes a holiday - NY, other states yank levies to boost sales, by Beth Harpaz, AP via Bos Globe, C2.
...Texas, Florida and New York all dropped their sales tax on clothing for several days before the start of school.... The event has led to actual net increases in sales.... New York has been suspending the state's 4% clothing tax for two weeks a year - before school and again in mid-January - since 1997. Most counties also suspend local taxes during the period, so in places like New York City, shoppers save 8.25%.... In March, New York will permanently abolish the clothing tax on items under $110, partly to remain competitive with Mass., NJ, and Pa., which have no tax on clothes....
[Sales taxes are the most inefficient to collect, the most poor-bashing, and the most market-dampening. They should all be abolished in favor of restored graduated income taxes which take money that the wealthy could never spend in a hundred lifetimes anyway, and get it into circulation.]

9/02 1 upsizing -

• H & R Block to buy Olde for $850 million in cash - A former tax preparer is now wearing many hats, by Kenneth Gilpin, NYT, C4.
  ...In addition, the company opened H&R Block Financial Centers in four markets during the 1999 tax season. By the end of this year, it plans to open 70 such offices in Arizona, California, Illinois and New England, offering financial services, home mortgages and tax preparation under one roof....
  [Well, that should mean a few more jobs....]