Hollywood tax credit extension moves forward in California Legislature

Director Eric Tozzi, center, works with actor Bryan McClure and Jared Day while shooting a scene for a short called Bountyful on a CSB Studios lot on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. (Times Community News / June 28, 2012)

June 28, 2012 | 11:30 a.m.

California lawmakers gave initial approval Thursday to a proposed five-year, $500-million extension of the state?s film tax credit, despite opposition from teachers and others to giving Hollywood so much financial help when the state is cutting basic services, including college aid and child care and parks services.

The Senate Governance and Finance Committee approved the legislation after Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) said his proposal is needed to help the state?s economy and prevent film productions from moving to Canada and other low-tax locations. The $100-million-per-year tax credit program began in 2009 but would expire in 2015 unless Calderon?s bill passes.

"These tax credits provided jobs in the state when they were sorely needed," Calderon said before the committee voted 5-1 to send the measure to the Appropriations Committee for consideration.

Continue reading >>

-- Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times

Source: http://www.burbankleader.com/the818now/tn-818-0628-hollywood-tax-credit-extension-moves-forward-in-california-legislature,0,5670407.story?track=rss

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Roberts delivers for president who had opposed him

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2010 file photo, Chief Justice John Roberts is seen during the group portrait at the Supreme Court Building in Washington. Breaking with the court's other conservative justices, Roberts announced the judgment that allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Roberts explained at length the court's view of the mandate as a valid exercise of Congress' authority to "lay and collect taxes." The administration estimates that roughly 4 million people will pay the penalty rather than buy insurance. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2010 file photo, Chief Justice John Roberts is seen during the group portrait at the Supreme Court Building in Washington. Breaking with the court's other conservative justices, Roberts announced the judgment that allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Roberts explained at length the court's view of the mandate as a valid exercise of Congress' authority to "lay and collect taxes." The administration estimates that roughly 4 million people will pay the penalty rather than buy insurance. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2010 file photo, President Barack Obama greets Chief Justice John Roberts before he delivered his State of the Union Address on Capitol Hill in Washington. Breaking with the court's other conservative justices, Roberts announced the judgment that allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Roberts explained at length the court's view of the mandate as a valid exercise of Congress' authority to "lay and collect taxes." The administration estimates that roughly 4 million people will pay the penalty rather than buy insurance. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

This artist rendering shows Chief Justice John Roberts, center, speaking at the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012. From left are, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan. (AP Photo/Dana Verkouteren)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? As a junior senator, Barack Obama voted against John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, fearing he would favor the powerful over the weak.

Now it is Roberts who has saved the signature achievement of Obama's presidency, the health care overhaul, in a ruling that challenges critics' assertions that the chief justice is nothing more than a conservative ideologue.

Roberts had pledged at his 2005 confirmation hearing to act as a judicial umpire, calling balls and strikes without taking sides. On Thursday, he threw conservatives a curveball.

In a 5-4 ruling upholding the health care law, Roberts wrote for the majority that it's not the court's job to decide whether Obama's plan "embodies sound policies. That judgment is entrusted to the nation's elected leaders."

After all the speculation that the Republican-leaning court would strike down the law, Roberts' opinion startled even Paul Clement, the lawyer who had made the case against the law in oral arguments before the high court in March.

"If you told people that there were four solid votes to strike down the whole thing, you know, I think most people ... would have been surprised to find that among the four were Justice (Anthony) Kennedy and not the chief justice," Clement said.

The 57-year-old chief justice hasn't gotten this much attention since he flubbed the oath of office that he administered to Obama on Inauguration Day in 2009. His mangled wording of the inaugural oath prompted a presidential do-over the next day.

Thursday's ruling induced an instant role reversal.

Liberals sang Roberts' praises. Conservatives suddenly were less enamored. Roberts had been their darling since President George W. Bush picked the federal judge to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

For a second time in the court's final week of its term, Roberts had aligned himself with the liberal justices. In a decision Monday, he had voted to invalidate parts of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Roberts "saved the day ? and perhaps the court," in the health care ruling, said Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, a constitutional scholar who once hired Obama as a research assistant and also had the chief justice as a student.

Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman of California chimed in: "Today I am proud to be a member of the Harvard Law School class of 1979, the class that included Chief Justice Roberts."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, said Roberts had "acted as the umpire he promised to be."

Republican lawmakers largely focused on their dismay with the ruling, steering clear of its author, although Sen. David Vitter, R-La., accused Roberts of "amazingly rewriting the law in order to uphold it."

Other critics let loose.

A National Review Online editorial, under the title "Roberts's Folly," said the chief justice and his colleagues had "done violence" to the Constitution. Hackers briefly changed Roberts' title on Wikipedia to "Chief Traitor of the United States" and labeled him a "coward." T-shirts declaring "Impeach John Roberts" were soon on sale.

As Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke out strongly against the ruling, his website lagged behind, still promising, "As president, Mitt will nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts."

Once the shock at the ruling wore off, the questions about Roberts' motivations began.

Did he do it to salvage the court's image? Was he trying to preserve his legacy?

The court's reputation for impartiality took a major hit with the 5-4 ruling that awarded the presidency to Republican Bush over Democrat Al Gore in 2000. With the court's liberal and conservative justices often sharply divided in recent years, a CBS News-New York Times poll this month found that 76 percent of those surveyed thought the justices were at least sometimes influenced by their own political or personal opinions rather than the law.

The latest numbers from Gallup, which has tracked confidence in the court since 1973, are among the lowest the court has ever received.

William Galston, a former Clinton administration official, wrote that Roberts may have "had one eye focused on jurisprudence and another on the standing of the institution he heads."

But Richard Garnett, a University of Notre Dame law professor and former Supreme Court clerk to Rehnquist, rejected the idea that Roberts was out to please the public.

"Chief Justice Roberts is a guy who is trying hard to get the right answer even in hard cases that have political implications," Garnett said. Still, Garnett said the ruling might help to change public impressions, acknowledging that there was "a narrative that was being set up" painting the court in highly partisan terms.

Michael Dorf, a Cornell University law professor who clerked for Kennedy, said the ruling shouldn't be taken as evidence that Roberts has lost his conservative bent.

"There's no doubt that Roberts is a generally conservative justice," Dorf said. "What this case demonstrates is that he is not simply an ideologue and he was led where the arguments led him."

There was some speculation that Roberts had even thrown a bone to conservatives by going out of his way in the ruling to agree with their position that Congress lacked the power under the Constitution's commerce clause to put the mandate for health insurance in place.

In 2005, Obama, a former constitutional law professor, explained his vote against Roberts' confirmation by saying that the judge was qualified in temperament and scholarship for most of what comes before the high court, but not for those truly difficult cases where "the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart."

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., predicted Roberts' stock with the president is a notch higher these days.

"I bet he gets an engraved Christmas card invitation to the White House," Cole said. "He's pretty popular right now, down there at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

___

Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Donna Cassata, Josh Lederman, Jessica Gresko, Mark Sherman and Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Health care interactive: http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/healthcare

___

Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nbenac

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-06-28-Supreme%20Court-Health%20Care-Roberts/id-44bc0ff00699424283ffdf0d25f4f729

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Thread: Shop made chain drive twin screw vise - Family Woodworking

Several years ago I made a twin screw chain drive vise for my old work bench and now I have a new bench so I decided to make a new one. This vise is different than any other ones I have seen before. It operates like a mechanics vise. The screws are towards the bottom of the jaws and there are slides that keep the jaws from wracking. I will try to go through the steps to make one.

First you need some steel tube to make the slides, you need 2 different sizes and the smaller one needs to slide inside the larger one without much play. I happened to have some laying around. The larger piece was 1.25" outside and the small piece was 1.125" outside.

I made the jaws out of beech and drilled holes for the slides to go in. To get the holes accurately spaced I clamped both jaws together then clamped them the the drill press. I drilled the 1.25" in the stationary jaw then changed the bit and drilled the 1.125" hole in the moving jaw, I did that without moving the the jaws on the drill press. This way the slides will line up.

For the screws I used 5/8" all thread. You could use whatever you want but for me the 5/8 was cheap and easy to get. At the end of the large slides you need to weld on some nuts. Then put the slides in the jaws. You can press them in with a clamp or gently hammer them in using a wood block to protect the slides.

At this time you should be able to slide the jaws together

The next step is to cut all thread. To measure it just pull out the movable jaw to what you want the max opening to be and measure from the outside of the jaw to the nut at the end of the slide and maybe add and inch or so.

To allow the movable jaw to follow when opening the vise I double nutted inside small slide. A washer goes on the outside and is screwed on the jaw. Then the sprocket goes on. I welded a nut on the sprocket so I could screw the sprocket on then tighten the set screws on the sprocket.

Then screw on the handle which I tapped to screw right on the all thread and tighten against the nut. and put on the chain. It may be a good idea to plan the distance between screws so the length of the chain works out well. Somehow I got lucky both times I built the vises and the chain is snug but not tight.

Right now its getting late and some of this may not make sense so if you have questions let me know.

Source: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?27840-Shop-made-chain-drive-twin-screw-vise

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How to Add Value to your Home | Beverley Outdoor Furniture Blog

Looking to sell your house? Well with the right home improvement, you can make your home more marketable while significantly increasing its value.

Most homeowners expect to make a profit ? no matter how small- when it comes to selling up and moving on. But some home improvements can add more value than others. So with these useful tips, you can find out which developments will help you to increase the price of your property.

1. Try to increase the space in your house

The general rule is that more square footage means more value for your home. Recent research by HSBC reveals that, on average, a loft conversion will add ?20,876 to your property, making it the single biggest means to increase the value of your property.

Garage renovations are also highly coveted at the moment, as they are a great way to increase your living space without have to extend your property.

Converting this space into a living room, bedroom, or study may cost approximately ?10,000, but it will certainly add value to your home by increasing that all-important square footage to your living area.

Additionally, basement extensions are currently very trendy, and have been known to help encourage the sale of a house. But the reality is that these conversions can cost a significant amount of money, and it is unlikely that the renovation will increase the value of your house enough to be worthwhile.

But if all else fails, a new conservatory will certainly increase the price of your property. The HSBC study discovered that a standard conservatory can add up to ?12,000 on to the value of your home.

2. Brighten up the place with some more natural light

Lighting up a room will make is look and feel bigger, brighter, and better. The best way to do this is to improve the natural lighting.

Fitting new skylights are a great way to achieve this, as is replacing any curtains with Venetian blinds. If your budget will permit, installing some classy French doors will also improve the amount of natural light in your home.

3. Fit in a new, squeaky clean bathroom

A downstairs loo can be an extremely cost effective means to add value to your home. The HSBC survey revealed that a new bathroom can add approximately ?3,300 to the price of your home.

A basic bathroom suite can cost as little as ?500 to ?600. You may not get an incredible stylish or luxurious bathroom, but you will probably get to choose from a range of colours that can look great your original tiles.

4. Sort out your outdoor living areas

Outdoor living spaces are a fantastic way to be able to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors within the comforts of your own home. Creating the perfect outdoor space that is inviting, comfortable and peaceful can be extremely useful when looking to sell your property.

To make your outdoor living areas shine, you should try and fit some new paving stones, planting some flowers, tidying up your lawns, purchase some new garden furniture, and install some new exterior doors.

Things not to do

Do not put a swimming pool into the garden of a house that you are trying to sell. They are the least wanted home improvement, as they take up space and are costly to maintain.

As previously mentioned, a well maintained outdoor area can help you sell your house. But there is no need to spend a significant amount of money on new decking or landscape gardening, as this will not add too much value to your property.

Avoid dark or garish shades of paint, as they can make the interior of your home look dim and gloomy. Keep your walls neutral colour and the place will look much better to prospective buyers.

via How to Add Value to your Home | This is Surrey.

Home improvement comes in all shapes and sizes, and with the summer approaching what better way to improve your home then add a beautiful extra room, your garden.

Adding a new look to your garden by getting rid of the all paving stones and adding some stylish decking is always a great improvement. After doing so you can really do whatever you like with it, add some stylish outdoor furniture will make your garden?sophisticated while giving off a homely feel to it.

?

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Texas primary will be 'big day' for Romney

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14th June Boat Trip around Plymouth Sound ... - Network Plymouth

We are sailing?? We are sailing..

?Network Plymouth Business Club invites you to a meeting with a difference ? on a boat trip around Plymouth Sound . You will have the opportunity to meet with other members of the business community from ?Plymouth and the surrounding area.

We are a friendly platform for growing businesses, where like-minded people meet to inspire; share experiences; strengthen and grow though trusted relationships; and exchange referrals.

?Presentation on ? Exercising Mind and Body? from Chris Menlove-Platt of CMP Coaching & Training.

Set of from the Barbican (along from Mayflower steps.)

?Thursday? 14^th June

7.15 am to 9.30 am

?10 Meeting Fee ?- payable in advance

(includes breakfast rolls/pastries/refreshment)

Please reserve your place by responding to the member who sent this flyer to you or to Kelly Crane at (Enable Javascript to see the email address)">(Enable Javascript to see the email address) or on 07984 651286.? Payment must be received by? Monday 11^th June.

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E3 Rumor: Sony Partnering With Cloud Gaming Provider

According to a very short, very rumor-filled VG24/7 piece, Sony is looking at adding cloud-enabled gaming to the Playstation line, presumably in the form of an Onlive or Gaikai partnership. Given that we won't see much new this year at E3 - aside for official Wii U availability and perhaps (just perhaps) whispers of next gen Sony and Microsoft consoles, this bit of news could carry the show. The Vita is powerful, to be sure, but it's hardly nailing it in terms of game availability and to be able to play a game on the handheld and then pop over to the console is pretty compelling. Presumably the console can also act as a conduit for a definitively more interesting gaming experience.

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