Into Antiques?

On ebay you'll find over 100 categories covering the Medieval and Renaissance periods, through Georgian, Regency and Victorian, to Edwardian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Antique Dealers in California

Linda Stamberger

Linda Stamberger, author of "Antiquing In Florida", is a Florida expert and freelance writer of many genres. Visit this site to read her articles - some of which are available for purchase - as is her book.


Brooks Novelty Antiques and Records

Brooks Novelty is an all-vinyl record store. We specialize in: jukeboxes, vintage soda machines, antique slot machines, pin balls, arcade games, neon clocks and signs, rare concert posters, old advertising signs and much more!


The Antique Company

Established in the late 1900's, we occupy a huge corner building with a small garden area that leads to another 1000 sq foot store (called TAC) that contains our Mid Century collection.


Vintage Westclox

Westclox photo identification gallery and history and information of clocks, watches and other timepieces. This site primarily displays American clocks made by Westclox that were made from the early 1900's up to about the 1960's.


Antique Appraisals On-Line

We are one of the country's largest, oldest, most qualified and respected appraisal services. The majority of our appraisals are estate and personal property evaluations for valuation documentation purposes. However, we have evaluated goods and personal property for natural disaster losses (hurricanes), theft, fire, freight and shipping damage after the loss has occurred.


Connoisseur Antiques

Featuring fine antique furniture, Connoisseur Antiques is a Los Angeles Antique Furniture Showroom specializing in antique clocks and mirrors, European and French antiques, Antique Lighting, Chandeliers, Sconces, Armoires and much more.


Liz's Antique Hardware

Antique Hardware is the backbone of our business. We offer a complete selection of door, window and furniture hardware, lighting and accessories circa 1890 to 1970.


San Francisco Antique and Design Mall

San Francisco Antique and Design Mall is the largest antique mall in northern California. We opened our doors in October 1997 with 75 dealers and today we have over 200 of San Francisco's most professional antique specialists.


Ambiance Antiques

Importer of 18th and 19th Century French Antiques


C'est La Vie Antiques

European Antique and Accessories in San Diego, CA.


Lang Antiques

We carry a large selection of fine antique jewelry, antique rings & antique engagement rings. We also have vintage estate jewelry, vintage estate rings & vintage estate engagement rings from the Victorian, Art Nouveau, Edwardian & Art Deco style periods.


Once in a Blue Moon Online Thrift Store

We are an online thrift store featuring new, used, and unusual items.


Monday, June 11, 2012

Southern California public education unions agree to attacks on membership - World Socialist Web Site

Southern California public education unions agree to attacks on membership - World Socialist Web Site

Home » World News

Southern California public education unions agree to attacks on membership

By Dan Conway
12 June 2012

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) reached a tentative agreement last Friday with the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the union representing teachers in the district. The agreement, if ratified, by both membership and the school board this week, would implement 10 additional unpaid furlough days during the upcoming school year. The ten furlough days would be comprised of five actual instructional days lost along with loss of pay for four holidays and one training day. Together, these represent a five percent salary cut.

According to LAUSD superintendent John Deasy, the measures were necessary due to the “continued pathetic level of funding” received from the state.

Most tellingly, the current agreement is nearly identical to that passed on May 25 by SEIU local 99 which represents school janitors, cafeteria workers and other school support staff. According to the local’s web site, the vote “demonstrates the selfless commitment of SEIU local 99 members to stand united for each other and for the students we serve every day.” Like the UTLA agreement, the SEIU’s bargaining efforts resulted in the loss of 10 furlough days from members.

This essentially means that UTLA membership is being presented with a sham vote on Wednesday as the SEIU's agreement essentially means that ten school days are already lost regardless of how the vote proceeds.

Local 99 is simply following the playbook of the much larger local 1000 which represents state and municipal employees. The governor's office reached agreement with them on a plan to reduce hours and pay for membership. The current plan being negotiated includes a four day workweek and the elimination of the eight hour day, with a decrease in overall hours and pay.

The position of the SEIU was spelled out most clearly on a video posted on the union's website. In it, John Kern, head of bargaining unit 3, said the following, “To say no always includes a cost. And the cost of saying no now is that we'll take ourselves out of the action, but we will definitely be acted upon instead. That is not our choice. That's not a responsible choice.” See video.

As the June 15 deadline approaches for passage of California Governor Jerry Brown's latest budget agreement, school districts and other state and local institutions are preparing for the aftermath. The state’s budgetary shortfall for the upcoming year has ballooned from $9.2 to over $16 billion.

The LAUSD faces a $390 million shortfall of its own. The district is the second largest in the country serving 664,000 students, and has thus become a focal point for nationwide attacks on public education.

Despite the disastrous economic situation faced by the district, the UTLA is seeking to promote illusions among its members, claiming that teachers will have lost wages reimbursed should the district end the year with a budget surplus. The steady stream of budgetary woes for the district since the onset of the economic crisis, gives the lie to such pap. In 2008, the district was $427 million in the red, in 2009, $838 million, in 2010, $620 million, and in 2011, $408 million. The district is projected to have a $390 million shortfall during the upcoming fiscal year.

According to both the district and the teachers’ union, the ultimate outcome of the latest proposal depends upon the passage of November ballot initiatives proposed by Governor Brown to raise sales and income taxes. Both the district and the union have asserted that non-passage of these initiatives will result in the loss of an additional 15 school days while the newly-agreed upon furlough days will be rescinded if the initiatives do pass.

If everything does indeed hinge on the November election, then why is such a matter being voted on at all right now?

Indeed, the UTLA’s response to the latest agreement has been to launch an internal propaganda offensive, the cynicism of which is only matched by its crudity. The union’s web site claims that the latest agreement “Means that most RIF'd (Reduction in Force, meaning teachers who received notices of possible termination last March) employees will return next year.” This year, 9,150 RIF notifications were sent out, while the current agreement spares 4,149 of those or slightly more than half.

Of the 9,150 RIFs sent out, 3,606 were received by adult education instructors. The current agreement restores only 653 of those positions, a devastating loss for Adult Education programs in Los Angeles County. The district is now determining which of the 24 adult education campuses in the city will be shut down as a result.

The rosy picture painted by the union contrasts with Governor Brown’s statement after the latest budget proposal was announced, “We are going to have to go farther and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year.”

Regardless of the outcome of these agreements, they represent only a small fraction of the cuts which have been made to the public sector since the onset of the economic crisis.

Public education has been extremely hard hit in the state of California, with many more cuts in the offing.

LAUSD, for its part, has also recently announced that it would apply for prize money under President Obama’s reactionary Race to the Top Program. The program, which was once only available to states, has now been modified to allow individual school districts to apply for funds. The state is eligible for prize money only to the extent that it’s able to show permanent structural reductions in workforce and programs, which themselves lay the groundwork for further layoffs and school privatizations. Such “reforms” will inevitably remain in place even if the district does not obtain the prize money.

California government is also seeking options for the review and removal of credentials for those teachers who have ever been accused of professional misconduct regardless of type. An initial investigation had covered 604 cases over the past four years. The investigation has now been expanded to allegations made over the past 40 years. For all intents and purposes, every teacher now teaching who has been suspected of misconduct will be investigated and possibly terminated.

Democratic Senator Alex Padilla has also authored legislation which was recently passed in the state senate, and which expedites the firing process for those teachers accused of offenses involving sex, violence, drugs or “unprofessional” conduct. The process does not pay heed to the ultimate guilt or innocence of the teacher so accused.

Said Padilla, “Because a school board is ultimately responsible for ensuring a safe learning environment, the school board should be empowered to dismiss employees they determine to be a serious threat to the health and safety of students.” The “health and safety of students” could well be predicated on non-exposure to socialist ideas or for that matter to works of art and literature with even the most modest anti-establishment aspirations. The measure will soon be put to a vote in the state assembly.

Since the 2008 economic crisis, over 30,000 public school teachers have been laid off in the state of California.


Source: www.wsws.org

Planned Furniture Promotions names Robert Rosenberg a VP - Furniture Today

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, June 11, 2012

ENFIELD, Conn. — Liquidator and promotional sales company Planned Furniture Promotions has promoted Robert Rosenberg to vice president.

Rosenberg, 32, grandson of PFP co-owner and Bob's Discount Furniture founder Gene Rosenberg, will oversee various events, merchandising, and operations of the company and "will be a key component in further improving PFP's well-known and respected event success," according to a release.

Rosenberg joins the PFP executive team after working his way up through almost every role in the company. He started as a warehouse hand in 2003, moved into store sales, became an assistant event coordinator and finally an event manager.

"Rosenberg conducted record breaking events for the company, not only in gross sales, but in profits and satisfaction for PFP clients," the company said.

Among others, Rosenberg has been involved in industry events and sales at Levitz, Modernage, Sofa Express, American Home, Georgetown Interiors, Sussan Furniture, Mazer's and most recently at Furniture Warehouse in Salt Lake City.

"I've watched Rob move through the ranks and when this new promotion was suggested by our executive team, I could not have been more pleased," Gene Rosenberg said. "Rob has worked hard and excelled on behalf of the company and our clients," he said, adding that the promotion in "well-deserved."

Rosenberg joins other PFP executives Roy Hester, Burt Homonoff, Mark Bannon and Tom Liddell. The Enfield, Conn.-based company is led by Gene Rosenberg and Paul Cohen, co-founders of PFP, which is celebrating 50 years in business.


Source: www.furnituretoday.com

California also the land of pricey energy - Victorville Daily Press

California, as just about everyone already knows, is among the nation’s highest-taxed, most-regulated and most-expensive states to live in.

Now, a report from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, shows California also has the sixth-highest energy costs among the states in 2012.

Energy costs, like taxes, regulations and the cost of living, are direct consequences of meddlesome, overbearing government intrusion. Yet, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration prepares more of the same as the California Air Resources Board ratchets up additional regulatory burdens, including plans to impose an unnecessary carbon-emission cap-and-trade auction that will drive energy providers’ costs even higher.

Refineries must pay to emit greenhouse gases through the cap-and-trade program scheduled to launch in August.

Those costs will be passed along to consumers just as surely as is every other cost resulting from government mandates and regulations.

In the report, “Energy Cost Index 2012: Ranking the States,” the small-business group examined a combination of the pump price of regular gasoline and the cost of electricity.

The group’s message should influence Mr. Brown’s policymaking, but probably won’t.

“High energy costs take a heavy toll on consumers, as well as on businesses of all types and sizes,” the report says. “That is most certainly the case with small businesses that so often operate on very thin margins.”

Sadly, it isn’t surprising that Mr. Brown intends more harmful government intrusions, considering how oblivious he has been to the harm government meddling already has caused.

California’s cost of gasoline, for example, ranks third-highest, behind Hawaii and Alaska. California’s electricity cost ranks 10th.

Seventy-two percent of small-business owners recently polled said higher gas prices affect their business, and 43 percent said their business may not survive if energy prices continue to rise.

What’s Mr. Brown’s reaction? So far, it is to propose more of the same harmful policies.

“Energy cost differentials between states speak to the competitiveness of each state in terms of attracting and keeping businesses,” says the small-business group’s report.


Source: www.vvdailypress.com

California man beats stepson for dropping ball, video shows cruelty - Examiner
  • Sexy Dads

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  • Source: www.examiner.com

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