Teacher Kicks Student Out of Class for Wearing Mitt Romney T-Shirt

Can you say FIRED on the spot?

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Stacey Dash defends pro-Romney stance

Actress Stacey Dash was attacked with negative tweets after voicing her support of Mitt Romney on Twitter over the weekend. Many comments were racially charged and others suggested the star of the 1990s hit 'Clueless' should just "kill herself."

One man wrote, "This hurts, but you a Romney lover and you slutting yourself for the white man only proves why no black man would marry u." Another Twitter user said: "She's an indoor slave, you know that, sis." Many tweets expressed disbelief that a woman of African American heritage would vote for anyone but Obama, and some suggested that her account must have been hacked.

The backlash began on Sunday, after Dash tweeted "Vote for Romney: The only choice for your future," along with a provocative photo of herself wearing a red Baywatch-style tank suit standing in front of an American flag. "Kill yourself you old hag…" a Twitter used lashed out. "The only choice for your future." Another wrote, "You're an unemployed black woman endorsing @MittRomney. You're voting against yourself thrice. You poor beautiful idiot."

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Woman Fights City Of Glendale To Keep Her Front Yard Food Bank Open

can you say, LET THE LADY FEED THE POOR, ya FUCK STICKS

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The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants is putting more workers on part-time status in a test aimed at limiting the impact of looming health coverage requirements.

Darden Restaurants Inc. declined to give details but said the test is only at restaurants in four markets. The test entails increasing the number of workers who are on part-time status, meaning they work less than 30 hours a week. Under the health care overhaul, companies will need to provide health coverage to full-time employees. 

Under the new health care law, companies with 50 or more workers could be hit with fines if they do not provide basic coverage for full-time workers and their dependents. Starting Jan. 1, 2014, those penalties and requirements could significantly boost labor costs for some companies, particularly in low-wage industries such as retail and hospitality, where most jobs don't come with health benefits.

Darden, which operates more than 2,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, employs about 180,000 people. The company says about 75 percent of its employees are currently part-timers.

Bob McAdam, who heads government affairs and community relations for Darden, said the company is still learning from the tests, which was first reported by the Orlando Sentinel. "We're not at a point where we have results," he said.

McAdam also noted that Darden is not alone in looking at ways to keep labor costs in check, with companies industrywide prepping for the new regulations to take effect.

This summer, McDonald's Corp. Chief Financial Officer Peter Bensen noted in a conference call with investors that the fast food company was looking at the many factors that will impact health care costs, including its number of full-time employees.

"There's not a company in those industries that aren't looking at this," said Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. In fact, Keckley noted that there follow-up legislation might be needed to ensure that companies do not shift more workers to part-time status to avoid providing coverage.

Nationally, 60 percent of companies offer health benefits, but the figure varies depending on the size of the company. Nearly all companies with 200 or more workers offer benefits, compared with 48 percent for companies with 3-9 workers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Even beyond health care costs, however, Darden has made cutting labor costs a priority in recent years as sales growth has stalled at its flagship chains. In the most recent fiscal quarter, the company's restaurant labor costs were 31 percent of sales. That's down from 33 percent three years ago. The reduction was driven by several factors.

Given the challenging job market, Darden has been able to offer lower pay rates to new hires, as well as cut bonuses for general managers as sales have stagnated. Servers at Red Lobster now handle four tables at a time, instead of three.

And last year, the company also put workers on a "tip sharing" program, meaning waiters and waitresses share their tips with other employees such as busboys and bartenders. That allows Darden to pay more workers a far lower "tip credit wage" of $2.13, rather than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. 

Can you say JOB KILLER?

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Big Bird Wants Out of Campaign Ad

Big Bird, it seems, isn’t thrilled about his cameo in the presidential race.

The folks at Sesame Street are asking the Obama campaign to pull down a TV ad released Tuesday that mocks Mitt Romney for vowing to yank the subsidy to PBS.

At the presidential debate in Denver last week, Mr. Romney said he would end the subsidy in view of the nation’s fiscal troubles.

Up went an ad by team Obama called “Big Bird’’ that suggests Mr. Romney is targeting children’s programming rather than legitimate threats to people’s economic interests.

The ad shows images of Bernie Madoff and others implicated in various financial and corporate scandals. A narrator then intones: “And the evil genius who towered over them?”

A silhouette of Big Bird flashes on screen.

“Mitt Romney knows it’s not Wall Street you have to worry about, it’s Sesame Street,” the narrator said.

The ad is airing on national cable and broadcast TV, in time slots devoted to comedy shows, the Obama campaign said.

Sesame Street isn’t amused. Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit educational organization that produces and owns the show, issued a statement Tuesday saying “we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down.”

can you say, GOOD GRIEF

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 CAN WE KEEP IT REAL FOLKS