Obama and religious leaders conflict over gay marriage decision
Obama decision conflicts with Black religious leaders
Obama explained to them that he struggled with the decision, pastors on the call told the paper, but several voiced their disapproval.
“They were wrestling with their ability to get over his theological position,” the Rev. Delman Coates, a Maryland pastor who was on the call, told the Times.
The conference call was part of a quiet effort by the president to control potential political damage caused by his support of same-sex marriage.
According to the Times, Obama phoned “at least one [the Rev. Joel C. Hunter] of the five spiritual leaders he calls regularly for religious guidance, and his aides contacted other religious figures who have been supportive in the past.”
Hunter, the pastor of a conservative megachurch, said he wasn’t surprised Obama didn’t ask him advice before the ABC interview because “I would have tried to talk him out of it.”
At services on Sunday, black churches were conflicted about President Obama’s support of gay marriage, according to the USA Today:
Bishop Timothy Clark, head of the First Church of God, a large African-American church with a television ministry in Columbus, Ohio, was perhaps most typical. He felt compelled to address the president’s comments at a Wednesday evening service and again Sunday morning. He was responding to an outpouring of calls, e-mails and text messages from members of his congregation after the president’s remarks.
What did he hear from churchgoers? “No church or group is monolithic. Some were powerfully agitated and disappointed. Others were curious. ‘Why now? To what end?’ Others were hurt. And others, to be honest, told me it’s not an issue and they don’t have a problem with it.”
What did the bishop tell his congregation? He opposes gay marriage. It is not just a social issue, he said, but a religious one for those who follow the Bible. “The spiritual issue is ground in the word of God.” That said, “I believe the statement the president made and his decision was made in good faith. I am sure because the president is a good man. I know his decision was made after much thought and consideration and, I’m sure, even prayer
The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office is spreading the wealth
Plumas Eureka State Park (Photo credit: lazytom)
Location in the state of California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Voters in the West Almanor Community Services District overwhelmingly passed a tax assessment in a special election May 8.
Out of a total of 210 ballots cast, 173 (82.38 percent) voted in favor of the measure, and 37 (17.62 percent) voted against it.
Saturday, May 19, marks the long-awaited reopening of Plumas-Eureka State Park in Johnsville. After a year of closure, and the threat of permanent shuttering, park staff and volunteers are eager to once again serve the visiting public at northeastern California’s only state park.
When 18-year-old Jennifer Wright steps on stage, her biggest fan will be in the audience.
“My mom is always saying, ‘You’re going to do this. You’re going to do well,’” Wright said.
“This” is the lead role in “Hairspray,” the Feather River College production that runs May 9 – 13 at the Town Hall Theatre in Quincy.
Saturday, May 19, marks the long-awaited reopening of Plumas-Eureka State Park in Johnsville. After a year of closure, and the threat of permanent shuttering, park staff and volunteers are eager to once again serve the visiting public at northeastern California’s only state park.
Supervising Ranger Mike Rominger said, “I’m excited to think that we will once again have Plumas-Eureka State Park open for visitors to experience our outstanding historical and natural resources.”
The museum and the Plumas-Eureka State Park Association store will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with excellent displays of the area’s rich mining history, and literature and clothing supplies for those seeking a remembrance of their visit.
The historic area around the park headquarters features an operating blacksmith shop; the Moriarity House, an early miner’s family home; the assay office where gold ore was tested for richness; and many exhibits of early-day mining equipment. The nearby Madora Lake Trail is now open as well, offering a gentle 1-1/2-mile loop around the lake, where wildflowers will soon be in bloom and waterfowl will be establishing their new broods.
For information on daily events at the park, call 530-836-2380
County emergency responders get support from sheriff’s office
The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office is spreading the wealth.
Last week the department doled out more than $80,000 worth of new high-tech equipment to more than a dozen of the county’s emergency responders.
Bodies recovered from Russian plane crash in Jakarta
Rescuers comb wreckage of Russian jet that crashed on Indonesian mountain
Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) – Bad weather hampered recovery efforts Friday as rescue teams combed a forbidding slope of an Indonesian mountain where a Russian jetliner crashed on a demonstration flight this week.
Rescuers found 12 bodies early in the day, according to Vice Marshal Daryatmo, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
It will take at least two weeks to identify the victims through DNA tests, Indonesian authorities said.
All 45 on board the Sukhoi Superjet 100 are feared dead.
The Superjet 100, Russia’s newest passenger plane, slammed into Mount Salak, a volcano south of Jakarta, after disappearing from radar screens Wednesday.
The cause of the crash remained unclear. The Russian Investigative Committee said it has launched a criminal probe into possible safety violations.
“We can understand how the families are feeling right now, and we want to do this evacuation as fast as we can, but the problem is the crash site terrain is unreachable by parachute,” Daryatmo said at a news conference Friday.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a joint investigation Friday after a phone call with his Russia counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
“I welcome the offer from Russian President Putin because the goal is to investigate what could have caused the plane crash,” Yudhoyono said.
The Russian Investigative Committee had said 48 people were on board the plane, including eight Russian crew members. But the Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said the number was 45, citing Sukhoi Civil Aviation President Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk as saying three of the people on the passenger list did not board the flight.
The plane was on a demonstration flight for Indonesian Ministry of Transportation officials and representatives of Indonesian airlines, the Russian Embassy in Jakarta said before the crash.
Indonesia’s Sky Aviation signed a $380 million deal in 2011 to buy 12 Sukhoi Superjet 100s, and press reports said a number of Sky employees were on the plane that went down. Sukhoi employees are also among the missing.
It was the first crash of a Sukhoi Superjet 100, RIA Novosti said.
The plane was on its second demonstration flight Wednesday when it lost contact with air controllers at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.
The Sukhoi jet arrived in Jakarta as part of a demonstration tour of six Asian countries. It had been to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, and was scheduled to visit Laos and Vietnam after Indonesia, RIA Novosti said.
Sukhoi manufactures military aircraft and is known especially for its fighter jets. Its civilian aircraft is narrow-bodied with a dual-class cabin that can transport 100 passengers over regional routes.
It flew its maiden flight in 2008 and has had encountered problems in the past.
In March, a Superjet 100 operated by Russia’s Aeroflot Airlines was forced to abandon its flight to Astrakhan, Russia, and return to Moscow because of problems with the undercarriage, according to RIA Novosti.
A similar defect in another Aeroflot-operated Superjet 100 plane had to be fixed in Minsk in December. However, Russia’s state-run United Aircraft Corp. said the defect did not affect passenger safety.
Threats from Russia on Missiles sites
Russia Threatens to Strike NATO Missile Defense Sites
“A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov said at an international missile defense conference in Moscow attended by senior U.S. and NATO officials.
The threat comes as talks about the missile defense system, which the U.S. and its allies insist is aimed at Iranian missiles, appear to have stalled.
“We have not been able to find mutually acceptable solutions at this point, and the situation is practically at a dead end,” Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said.
Ellen Tauscher, the U.S. special envoy for strategic stability and missile defense, insisted the talks about NATO plans for a missile defense system using ground-based interceptor missiles stationed in Poland, Romania and Turkey were not stalemated.
But she acknowledged Wednesday that the recent elections in Russia and the upcoming elections in the U.S. make it “pretty clear that this is a year in which we’re probably not going to achieve any sort of a breakthrough.”
She reiterated that the U.S.-built system, still in development, is being designed to shoot down Iranian intermediate-range missiles aimed at Europe, not Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
Russian officials insist that the system has the capability to shoot down their ICBMs, thus robbing their nuclear deterrent of its credibility and destabilizing the Cold War-era balance of mutually assured destruction.
Neither the State Department nor the Pentagon had any immediate comment on the Russian threat Thursday.
Worldwide marriage equality campaign in the works
Campaigners push for marriage equality worldwide
Hong Kong (CNN) – Cushla wore a white dress for her big day, Tania, braces, a hat and bow-tie. The couple, now wife and wife, tied the knot during a small ceremony led by an unregistered celebrant on a farm west of Sydney, Australia. It had all the hallmarks of a “real” wedding. Except this one wasn’t valid, at least under Australian law.
Australia is one of many countries around the world where same-sex couples are not permitted to legally marry. And the law doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has long opposed gay marriage, made it clear Thursday that her mind hadn’t been nudged by a politically risky move by U.S. President Barack Obama to back same-sex marriages Wednesday night.
“My view hasn’t changed and when a bill comes to the parliament later this year, moved by private members, Stephen Jones, one of our Labor members… When that bill comes to the parliament this year I won’t vote for it,” Gillard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Jones is one of two members of parliament who have submitted a private member’s bill that calls for the legalization of gay marriage, however neither Gillard nor main opposition leader Tony Abbott support it.
Obama’s decision to openly endorse same-sex marriage won plaudits from campaigners worldwide who have been pushing for more liberal laws since the first same-sex couples walked down the aisle in the Netherlands in 2001.
Same-sex marriages are now allowed in a number of U.S. states and in countries including Belgium, Canada,Spain, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal,Iceland and Argentina, according to Australian Marriage Equality.
Wedding bells are close to ringing on same-sex marriages elsewhere: Leading human rights activist Peter Tatchell hailed Obama’s move as evidence that support for same-sex marriage was “an unstoppable global trend”.
“Gay marriage is all about love,” he said. “The love of same-sex couples is just as real, strong and committed as that of married heterosexual men and women. Prohibiting same-sex marriage devalues and denigrates the love of lesbian and gay couples. It signifies our continuing second class legal status.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he supports their legalization in the UK, where authorities are currently consulting on the issue, having permitted civil partnerships since 2005.
However the issue’s omission this week from the Queen’s Speech, which outlines laws to be introduced in the coming months, dismayed campaigners. Ben Summerskill, of gay rights charity Stonewall said he was “disappointed,” and pledged “to push both coalition parties to deliver on their promise… by 2015.”
After becoming the first country to legalize same-sex unions in 1989,Denmark is close to doing the same for same-sex marriages. AndNepal, a country that only legalized same sex unions in 2008, has appointed a committee to develop laws on same-sex marriages.
However, in many countries LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) campaigners are nowhere near close to reaching for the confetti on gay marriage. Simply being able to live without fear or prejudice is the aim of activists in countries where homosexuality remains taboo or illegal.
According to a report released in May 2011 by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, same-sex relations are still criminalized in 76 countries, and in five of those countries the death penalty can be applied.
Legalized in:
The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, the U.S. states of Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Washington D.C.,New Hampshire, New York, and in Mexico City.
Recognized, but not performed in:
Israel, Mexico, the U.S. states of Rhode Island and Maryland, and the Australian state of Tasmania.
Civil unions or partnerships legalized in:
Denmark, UK, Brazil, France, Finland, Greenland, Austria, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Nepal, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and the Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory.
The countries with the harshest penalties are in Africa and the Middle East.
MPs in Uganda have repeatedly tried to introduce an anti-homosexuality bill which would make homosexual acts a capital offense; prominent gay rights activist David Kato was beaten to death in the country in 2011.
And even in South Africa, where single sex marriage was legalized in 2006, and where the post-apartheid constitution bans prejudice on the grounds of homosexuality, attacks on gays and lesbians — including instances of so-called “corrective rape” — still occur.
In other regions too, attitudes have been slow to change. InIndonesia, efforts to frame a Gender Equality Bill were resisted by campaigners who said that gender equality could open up room for legalizing same sex unions, according to Human Rights Watch.
Last month, a court in Malaysia backed police over its ban on a gay rights festival which officials argued could disrupt public order. And in Hong Kong, the sexuality of pop star Anthony Wong made headlines when he confirmed, after years of speculation, that he was gay. It was said to be the first time in nine years that a pop star had come out as homosexual in China’s Special Administrative Region.
“Hong Kong doesn’t have the gay bashing that a lot of countries have… But at the same time you still have people who are very ignorant,” said Reggie Ho, Chairman of the Pink Alliance which is organizing a concert Wong is due to perform at on Saturday, May 12. The concert is part of an event to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), which is observed in 60 countries. The official date is May 17, the day in 1990 that the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
“They gossip about you, or they make suggestions that hurt you very much. So it’s that kind of discrimination and the fact that the Hong Kong government has not moved forward at all in terms of legislating against discrimination against sexual minorities,” Ho said.
Separately in Australia on Saturday, campaigners will be holding a National Day of Action for Marriage Equality when thousands are expected to march through major cities calling for same-sex marriage.
“A lot of people are getting exasperated that we don’t have it yet,” said Jessica Payne who is organizing the Brisbane march. “I think it is a matter of time but it’s not going to happen without a push.”
Cushla said she and Tania weren’t willing to sit around and wait “and hope” for same-sex marriage to become legal.
“I didn’t want to miss out. I just wanted it to be the way that we wanted it to be, despite the fact that my partner is a woman,” she said. “Eventually, when it becomes legal, we’ll legally bind it.”
Russian passenger plane disappears
Russian plane missing in Indonesia
The Sukhoi Superjet 100, Russia’s newest civilian airliner, was carrying 42 passengers and eight Russian crew members, said Sunaryo, an official with Sukhoi’s Indonesian agent, Trimarga Rekatama.
However, the number was in dispute. The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency said only 37 of the 42 invited passengers were on board. Russian state-run news agencies reported 44 people were on the plane.
The plane was on its second demonstration flight Wednesday when it lost contact with air controllers at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.
“The first demonstration flight in the morning went smoothly,” said Sunaryo, who uses only one name. “There were no problems.”
On the second flight, the plane began making its descent but vanished from radar screens at 6,200 feet in a mountainous area.
The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers at 2:12 p.m., 21 minutes after taking off, said Marsda Daryatmo, head of the search and rescue agency. Two helicopters were immediately sent out to search for the plane but had to return to their bases due to strong winds and unpredictable weather.
Ground teams were continuing to search. The air search will resume at daylight, depending on the weather, Daryatmo said.
The plane was flying over Mount Salak, a volcano south of Jakarta, and was presumed to have crashed.
The Sukhoi jet arrived in Jakarta as part of a demonstration tour of six Asian countries. It had been to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, and was due to visit Laos and Vietnam after Indonesia, said the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Sukhoi manufactures military aircraft and is known especially for its fighter jets. Its civilian aircraft is narrow-bodied with a dual-class cabin that can transport 100 passengers over regional routes. It flew its maiden flight in 2008.
In March, a Superjet 100 operated by Russia’s Aeroflot Airlines was forced to abandon its flight to Astrakhan, Russia, and return to Moscow because of problems with the undercarriage, according to RIA Novosti.
A similar defect in another Aeroflot-operated Superjet 100 plane had to be fixed in Minsk in December.
Russia’s state-run United Aircraft Corp. said the defect did not affect passenger safety.
Hair product legend dies at 84
Legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon dies
Los Angeles (CNN) – Vidal Sassoon, the legendary hairstylist, died of “apparent natural causes” at his Los Angeles home Wednesday morning, a Los Angeles police spokesman said. He was 84.
Police were called to Sassoon’s Bel Air home on Mulholland Drive at 10:30 a.m., spokesman Kevin Maiberger said.
“When officers arrived, there were family members at the residence,” Maiberger said.
Sassoon, a British native, spent several years as a young boy in a London orphanage after his father left and his mother could not afford to care for him.
Later, after his mother dreamed of her son being in a barbershop, she apprenticed him to a local barber. That began a career that saw him develop two classic hairstyles of the 1960s, the bob and the even shorter five-point cut, along with an eponymous hair care line, a range of hair care tools and a chain of salons.
He is credited with revolutionizing women’s hair in the 1960s.
Queen Elizabeth made Sassoon a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 for his services to the British hairdressing industry.
Obama backs same-sex marriages finally
Obama announces he supports same-sex marriage
The announcement was the first by a sitting president and put Obama squarely at odds with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who on Wednesday said during an appearance in Oklahoma, “I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman.”
Obama said in an interview with ABC News, “At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me, personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Obama once opposed such marriages. He later indicated his views were “evolving.”
“I had hesitated on gay marriage, in part, because I thought civil unions would be sufficient,” the president said. “I was sensitive to the fact that — for a lot of people — that the word marriage is something that provokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs.”
It was not immediately clear how the development — which same-sex marriage advocates had long sought — might play out at the voting booth.
A Gallup Poll released Tuesday indicated 50% of Americans believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law as valid, with 48% saying such marriages should not be legal.
But a CNN/ORC poll, taken in late March, indicated policies towards gays and lesbians were tied for last in the most-important issues facing the country.
Obama was “disappointed” by Tuesday’s vote on the issue in North Carolina, which he described as discriminatory against gays and lesbians, a spokesman said earlier Wednesday.
North Carolina voted to implement a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which was already prohibited by state law. Supporters of the measure pushed for the constitutional amendment, arguing that it was needed to ward off future legal challenges.
The president said he supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own, ABC News reported.
Obama said his daughters, Malia and Sasha, have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. “It wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
What’s next for North Carolina?
Obama spoke Wednesday with ABC’s Robin Roberts. The interview will appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday. Excerpts aired Wednesday evening on “World News With Diane Sawyer.”
The president’s stance will be among many key differences with Romney, but it is not expected to be a key talking point in his campaign.
In comments Wednesday to CNN Denver affiliate KDVR, Romney reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.
“And I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name,” Romney said during a visit to Fort Lupton. “My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate, but that the others are not.”
The Family Research Council criticized Obama, and its president said on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that the decision will aid Romney.
“The president, I think, has handed to Mitt Romney the one missing piece in his campaign,” said Tony Perkins. “That is the intensity and motivation that Mitt Romney needs among social conservatives to win this election.”
An expert on religion and politics said the move will make “an already close election even closer.”
“It cuts both ways — it activates both Democratic and Republican base voters,” said John Green of the University of Akron.
Obama told ABC that some opinions on the issue are “generational.”
“When I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation, that they believe in equality,” he said.
First lady Michelle Obama was involved in the president’s decision.
“This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do,” Obama said.
Reaction to Obama’s same-sex marriage announcement
The new president of the Human Rights Campaign lauded the development.
“President Obama’s words today will be celebrated by generations to come,” Chad Griffin said. “For the millions of young gay and lesbian Americans across this nation, their president’s words provide genuine hope that they will be first generation to grow up with the freedom to fully pursue the American dream.”
Barney Frank, a gay Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, told CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” that “no president could have done this 10 years ago.”
Obama’s interview followed recent comments by other key administration figures.
Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday on NBC he was “absolutely comfortable” with couples of the same gender marrying, leading observers to wonder when Obama would again address the issue.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Monday also made headlines when he openly backed same-sex marriage rights. Asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” if he supports allowing individuals of the same gender to legally wed, Duncan replied: “Yes, I do.”
Before Tuesday, 30 states had voted in favor of constitutional amendments that seek to defend traditional definitions of marriage as a heterosexual union.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Columbia issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In February, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage beginning in June, but opponents there have pledged to block the bill and called for voters to decide the issue.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed into law a bill that permits the state’s same-sex couples to wed as of January 1, and state residents may vote to affirm such a law. Minnesota will vote on a state constitutional amendment similar to the one in North Carolina. Maine will have a referendum on allowing same-sex marriage.
In 2011, the Pentagon stopped enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuals serving in the military. That change played a part in Obama’s announced stance on same-sex marriage.
“When I think about those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” he told ABC News.
Legal challenges over same-sex marriage could reach the U.S. Supreme Court in coming months, but it seems unlikely justices would hear arguments before Election Day 2012.
The issue is on two legal tracks.
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will decide the constitutionality of California Proposition 8, a voter-approved measure that would recognize marriage only between one man and one woman. A federal judge earlier struck down the law as a violation of equal protection, prompting the current appeal.
The Obama administration announced last year it believed the Defense of Marriage Act, often referred to as DOMA, to be unconstitutional. The law defines marriage for federal purposes as unions only between a man and woman.
A federal appeals court in Boston last month heard a DOMA lawsuit by a same-sex couple in Massachusetts. At issue is whether the federal government can deny tax, health and pension benefits to same-sex couples in states where they can marry.
That federal law is being officially defended in court by House Republicans, led by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who stepped in after the Justice Department refused to participate.
Experian says businesses are paying bills faster
Big businesses pay bills at fastest rate since 2007
UK firms see payment performance improve
Latest figures indicate positive short term cash flow
Nottingham, 9 May 2012 — The latest data from Experian®, the global information services company, today revealed that UK businesses paid their bills two thirds of a day faster during the first three months of 2012 than in Q1 2011
UK firms paid their bills on average 24.67 days after agreed terms, compared to 25.33 days late in Q1 2011. It also represents an improvement of more than one full day compared to Q4 2011, when businesses paid their bills 25.97 days late on average.
The most noteworthy improvement came from firms with more than 501 employees. Payment performance amongst these larger businesses improved by over two days year-on-year, from 33.69 days beyond agreed terms in Q1 2011 to 31.54 days in Q1 2012. This is the fastest rate these businesses have paid their late bills since Q4 2007.
The second largest improvement came from firms with 101 to 500 employees. These businesses improved payment times by almost a day, from 24.62 days in Q1 2011 to 23.67 days in Q1 2012.
Max Firth, UK Managing Director for Experian’s Business Information Services division, said: “Across the UK we have now seen two quarters of improving payment performance, which suggests that an increasing number of firms are creating and enforcing more robust credit management and collection policies.
“The improvement seen by the UK’s largest businesses is supported by the feedback we have had from some of our larger clients. They are keen to better understand and address the impact of their payment behaviour on smaller suppliers, and are using payment performance data to find out where they are having
Source: Experian (see newest tool for credit seekers to guard against multiple credit runs that lower score)
Regional performance
The Experian building – ng2 The first office building to go up on the new ng2 business park. Completed in 2004 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Payment performance improved most for firms in the West Midlands – from 26.69 days in Q1 2011 to 23.92 days Q1 2012.
The North West region was the only one to see its average payment performance deteriorate – from 29.14 in Q1 2011 to 35.23 days Q1 2012. However, the short term view shows a small improvement – from 35.54 in Q4 2011 – suggesting that while the past year has been tough for firms in this region, short term cash flow did improve.
Source: Experian
Industry trends
The latest index shows that 23 out of 34 sectors saw their payment performance improve during Q1 2012.
Of the UK’s five biggest sectors – business services, building/construction, property, IT and leisure/hotel – property sectors firms improved the most. During Q1 2012, property firms paid their overdue bills more than two days faster than in Q1 2011.
Contact:
Ms Serj Heera
PR Manager
0115 992 2773/07837 652169
Related articles
- Experian Blogs is key indication of industry trends (ijrnews.com)
- Experian rolls out guide for reaching customers in today’s complex world (ijrnews.com)
White House, Obama Campaign on Defense After Biden Backs Gay Marriage
Obama and Biden stand united moving forward with Gay equality
Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP Photo
The White House and the Obama campaign are playing defense on gay marriage, after comments by Vice President Joe Biden reignited debate over the president’s position on the issue and whether he would seek to legalize same-sex marriages in a second term.
On Sunday, Biden candidly expressed support for gay marriage but stopped short of saying whether the president, who has long said his position on the issue is “evolving,” would back same-sex marriage.
“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” Biden said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The White House today was quick to deny that the Vice President’s remarks signaled a shift in the administration’s policy.
“What he said about the protection of rights of citizens is completely consistent with the president’s position on this issue, and his description of the way the country has moved on this issue, I think, is wholly accurate,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. “I think there is a little bit of an overreaction here.”
While the president has supported civil unions, he continues to say his position on gay marriage is evolving. “Attitudes evolve, including mine, and I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and think about because I have a whole host of friends who are in gay partnerships,” the president first told a group of progressive bloggers in October 2010.
“My feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this,” the president said again in December of 2011. “At this point, what I’ve said is, is that my baseline is a strong civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights that married couples have. And I think — and I think that’s the right thing to do. But I recognize that from their perspective it is not enough, and I think is something that we’re going to continue to debate and I personally am going to continue to wrestle with going forward.”
Do Biden’s comments indicate the president’s evolution is complete? “I have no update on the president’s personal views,” Carney said.
Despite his hesitation on same-sex marriage, the president is adamant that he has met his commitments to the LGBT community. “I have delivered on what I promised and that doesn’t mean our work is done. There are gonna be times when you’re still frustrated with me. I know there are gonna be times where you’re still frustrated with the pace of change. I understand that,” the president said at an event marking LGBT Pride Month last June.
The administration points to the president’s efforts to end “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and quit any legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman, as evidence of his support for gay and lesbian rights.
The president’s campaign has also walked back on Biden’s comments, trying to draw attention instead to Mitt Romney’s position on same-sex unions. “By the way, there couldn’t be a starker contrast on this issue than with Governor Romney who has funded efforts to roll back marriage laws in California and other places who believes that we need a constitutional amendment banning the right of gay couples to marry and would take us backward not forward. So there’s a very clear distinction,” senior strategist David Axelrod told reporters on a conference call today.
But Biden isn’t the only administration official to support allowing gays and lesbians to wed. With the issue now back in the spotlight, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has also offered his endorsement.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday, Duncan was asked if he thought same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. “Yes. I do,” Duncan responded bluntly.
The issue has also become a hot topic in the key battleground state of North Carolina, which later this week will vote on a measure to ban same-sex marriages.
Former President Bill Clinton, one of the president’s most powerful supporters, is voicing his opposition to the measure that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. “Hello, this is President Bill Clinton. I’m calling to urge you to vote against Amendment One on Tuesday May 8,” Clinton says in a robo-call to voters.
LANDLORD MULTIPLE CREDIT CHECKS
EXPERIAN TENANT SCREENING
Experian Tenant Screening - Landlords, View Your Tenant's Credit Report & Score for No Charge!