truesee's Blog

Tom Abate

Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle

July 14, 2010 04:00 AM

For the first time on record, senior citizens outnumber teens in the labor force as the Great Recession accentuates trends that make it harder for young people to find jobs and more likely for older workers to delay retirement. 

This historic crossover is revealed in data compiled by Bloomberg News showing that 6.6 million people over age 65 worked or looked for work in the first six months of the year, versus 5.9 million 16- to 19-year-olds. 

That analysis is based on federal records that started in 1948 when there were 4.4 million teens in the labor force compared with 2.9 million people over age 65. 

Experts say that over the past decade older workers have tended to hang on to their paychecks longer, owing to sagging stock portfolios and falling home prices. 

This shift toward an aging workforce has been disastrous for 16- to 19-year-olds, who face unemployment rates of 25 percent nationwide and 34 percent in California, similar to the Great Depression. 

"It's killing kids," said Andrew Sum, director of the center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. "We're tossing our future into the trash bin."

Economists agree that youngsters, especially those who lack college degrees, need entry-level jobs to help them acquire the discipline, confidence and motivation they need to succeed later in life. 

Slammed hard

The recession hurts. 

"Young people, as is always the case, get slammed hard because they are last hired, first fired," said Heidi Shierholz with the liberal Economic Policy Institute.

Some economists argue that high rates of teen unemployment make it time to rethink minimum-wage laws that put youngsters at a disadvantage compared with older workers who may compete for the same jobs.

For instance, the Bloomberg data cited a Labor Department report on employment trends in food preparation and serving - a strong teen job sector. From 2000 through 2009, the report found that employment among 16- to 19-year-olds fell by 242,000 jobs while the number of workers 55 and older increased by 128,000. 

"We need to create a lower minimum wage for teens to lower the cost of hiring and training entry-level employees," said Michael Saltsman, a research fellow at the conservative Employment Policies Institute. "What we would get for this is more jobs for our teens to learn career skills." 

Such a policy is anathema to Shierholz, who thinks a better way to improve job prospects for younger workers is to make Medicare and full Social Security benefits available at age 64 for the next two years to coax more older workers into retirement. 

Sum, the academic expert, argued for wage subsidies for employers who hire teens and better school-based programs to help young people find jobs. 

Young people at work

Some Bay Area youths have already benefited from such efforts. 

Sierra Faulkner, a 17-year-old student at Albany High School, parlayed a job-shadowing day at Chez Panisse in Berkeley into an unpaid internship at the internationally renowned restaurant. "I get paid in knowledge," said Faulkner, who said her once-a-week restaurant gig has taught her how to work at a fast pace. 

Cherisha Leung, a 20-year-old resident of Noe Valley in San Francisco, said she went looking for her first job at age 15 and ever since has worked through programs like Enterprise for High School Students and the United Way to find everything from odd jobs to career-track training.

This summer she is working as a paid intern at a real estate firm where she's getting exposure to her planned career in design and communications. 

"Little things here and there have built me into a pretty well-rounded individual," she said.

Forty-year McDonald's employee Ray Aronson was in the teen demographic when he started in food service. He's now in the fast-growing over-55 worker crowd.

Photo: Michael Andrews MICHAEL McANDREW / Hartford Courant TPN 

 

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/14/MN7K1EDSTA.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0tfp7nd8I

 Nicola Paginton

The ecstasy - and the agony.

A 30-year-old British woman's death, when using a sex toy while watching a porn movie, was probably caused by her state of arousal, officials said. 

Nicola Paginton, a children's nanny, was found dead in bed - naked from the waist down - in October as the porn movie played on her laptop, according to the Daily Mail.

A pathologist and coroner said during an inquest that Paginton died from a sudden heart arrhythmia, likely caused by "her activity before death." the paper reported.

Police had been called to Paginton's home after her employer, Sarah Griffths, went to her house when she failed to show up for work. She and a neighbor saw Paginton lying on her bed with her cat sitting on her chest, the newspaper said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/07/09/2010-07-09_coroner_says_uk_nanny_loved_herself_to_death.html#ixzz0tfIaQGrd

Barack Obama compared to Hitler and Lenin in Tea Party billboard

A roadside billboard created by a branch of the Tea Party in Iowa comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin has been condemned by other groups in the movement.

Tue Jul 13, 6:30 PM ET

North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson said the sign highlighted what the group argues is Mr Obama's support for socialism Photo: AP

The words "Democratic Socialism" are featured over Mr Obama's picture, over Hitler's photo is "National Socialism" and over Lenin's head is "Marxist Socialism." The word "Change" – Mr Obama's campaign slogan – is included on each photo. 

Placards with similar messages have been discouraged from tea party events after drawing negative publicity. Pictures of the president daubed with a Hitler moustache were commonly seen during the early days of the movement in protest at his health care reform.

Shelby Blakely, a spokesman for the national Tea Party Patriots, said the sign was not appropriate. She said her group opposed any such comparisons.

John White, state coordinator of the Iowa Tea Party movement, said such signs were distasteful. But he told Radio Iowa that he believed that everything Mr Obama had done was in "lock-step" with what Hitler did in his day.

The White House declined to comment.

http://www.usatoday.com/video/index.htm?bctid=111981312001#/News/Officers%20charged%20in%20post%2DKatrina%20bridge%20shooting/42804638001/40264770001/111981312001

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07/13/2332430/4-time-texas-lotto-winner-rich.html

ANDY BARR | 7/13/10 3:37 PM EDT

Tea party activists are pushing back against a resolution by the NAACP that asserts tea partiers have engaged in 'explicitly racist behavior.' AP

POLITICO 44

A spokesman for a group of tea party activists on Tuesday said that they are taking offense to a resolution the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is set to approve that condemns the grassroots movement as “racist.” 

“For the NAACP to accuse the tea parties of racism is insulting to the great patriots who have participated in this movement, and sadly shows just how out of touch that group is with the American people,” Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell told POLITICO. 

The NAACP is expected to vote at its annual conference as soon as Tuesday on a resolution that accuses tea Party activists of having used racial epithets in denouncing the policies of President Barack Obama and of having verbally and physically abused members of Congress. 

The resolution asserts that tea partiers have engaged in “explicitly racist behavior” and asks NAACP members to “stand in opposition” to the conservative group’s “drive to push our country back to the pre-civil rights era.” 

In response, Russell said the resolution fails to recognize minorities’ contributions to the grassroots movement and attacked the NAACP for lobbing racism charges without evidence to back them. 

“Some of the most compelling leaders of this movement are of many different races — men and women such as William and Selena Owens, Lloyd Marcus, Kevin Jackson and others,” Russell said. 

“The racism accusation by the likes of the NAACP has been proved false time and again. Earlier this year, Democrats smeared tea party activists by claiming members of the Black Caucus were spit on and called the n-word as they paraded through a crowd of tea partiers,” he added. “Their blatant lie was proved false by overwhelming evidence from multiple video cameras that recorded the event.” 

Russell contended the NAACP is guilty of overstepping its bounds and of acting juvenile. 

“As the tea party movement has gained political momentum, groups or individuals still playing the race card look like a foolish embarrassment to their own party,” he said. “It’s time for the NAACP to grow up and stop hiding behind hypocritical race-baiting politics.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39673.html#ixzz0tc0BV0iy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1294373/The-incredible-story-paralysed-man-blinked-stay-alive-life-support-machine-turned-off.html

NAACP to vote on controversial resolution condemning 'tea party' supporters

Krissah Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2010; 4:09 PM

Members of the NAACP will vote Tuesday on a resolution that condemns what the group calls "explicitly racist behavior" by supporters of the "tea party" movement. 

The resolution, which is expected to pass, pits the civil rights group against the conservative grass-roots movement, which has repeatedly denied allegations of racism. 

NAACP president Benjamin Jealous told members of his group that he wants to put the tea party "on ice." 

The resolution has drawn scorn from some conservatives. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin became the latest to denounce it on Tuesday, tweeting: "I'm busy today so notify me asap when NAACP renders verdict: are liberty-loving, equality-respecting patriots racist? Bated breath, waiting . . . " 

The tea party statement is one of many actions the NAACP has taken this week during its annual convention, which kicked off Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. The group has also requested a meeting with oil company BP to discuss the effect that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is having on minority workers. Meanwhile, one of the NAACP's local chapters has persuaded Alvin Greene, South Carolina's surprise Democratic Senate nominee, to speak at a meeting Sunday. 

The tea party resolution, which was submitted by the NAACP's Kansas City branch and was first reported by the Kansas City Star, has sparked a hot debate. It says members of the movement have "displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color generally and President Barack Obama specifically" and calls "the racist elements" within the tea party "a threat to progress." 

As an example, authors of the statement point to reports by black members of Congress that they endured spitting and racial epithets before voting for the health-care overhaul. (No charges were filed, and some tea party supporters have denied the claims.) 

The resolution also calls on "the leadership and members of the tea party to recognize the historic and present racist factions within it and to repudiate those factions," and says the movement has opposed government programs that help working people and people of color, according to NAACP spokeswoman Leila McDowell. 

Many members of the loose affiliation of groups that make up the tea party have roundly condemned the resolution. 

"Some of these charges have been going on for a while," said Brendan Steinhauser, director of campaigns for FreedomWorks, which organizes tea party groups. "I think there's been a concerted effort to make us look like were are extreme. . . . We're a very mainstream movement that talks about the debt, the bailouts, the spending." 

Steinhauser said he is "inspired by the American civil rights movement" and considered the 1963 March on Washington a model for the tea party's anti-tax march on the Mall last fall. 

Gina Loudon, one of the founders of the St. Louis Tea Party, told Fox News that the NAACP's charges are untrue and called the resolution a "shame." 

"I can't believe that the tea party is even going to be put in a position of dignifying something like that," she said. "This is sad, because this established organization is being used by the left." 

She said the tea party groups have tried to give minority conservatives a platform. 

A simple majority of the more than 2,000 NAACP voting delegates will have to approve the resolution at a business meeting Tuesday. 

The NAACP has also become the first group to get a meeting with Greene, the South Carolina Senate candidate who was a virtual unknown before winning the Democratic primary in June. Greene, who is from Manning, S.C., told the Associated Press that he has accepted an invitation from that city's NAACP chapter to speak at its regular monthly meeting Sunday at Ebenezer Baptist Church. 

Greene will give a 20 to 30 minute speech, said chapter President Robert Fleming. Greene also asked for a space to hold a news conference after his speech, said Fleming, whose family has known Greene's for years. (Fleming's family operates the local funeral home, and Greene's mother runs the town's flower shop.) 

"We presented the invitation to him as an opportunity for him to allow the citizens of South Carolina to know why he is running," Fleming said. 

When asked what he planned to discuss, Greene told the AP that he would talk about "jobs, education and justice, the campaign for the general election." 

Back in Kansas City, the first days of the NAACP's weeklong meeting have focused on the oil spill in the gulf and its impact on minorities. NAACP President Ben Jealous sent a letter Saturday to BP saying that minority and local workers are not getting a fair shot at contracts for cleanup work and that the jobs they have gotten are low-paying. 

McDowell said company officials responded quickly. "They will meet with us," she said.

'Worth it?' Tiger Woods fumes at personal questions in Ireland

Tiger Woods met with reporters in Ireland on Tuesday.

When asked whether his liaisons with other women had been "worth it" since it cost him his marriage and commercial endorsements, Woods replied, "I think you're looking too deep into this." He torpedoed the follow-up question with an icily firm "Thank you." 

Faced with questions about why he was returning immediately to his Florida home rather than heading to Scotland to prepare for next week's British Open at St. Andrews, one of his favorite courses where he's won two previous Opens in 2000 and 2005, the previously easy-speaking Woods flipped a switch into staccato half-sentences. 

How will you prepare? "Practicing." 

Where? "Home."

Why not try and play some links golf in Scotland beforehand? "I need to get home." Silence. 

Why? "See my kids." Silence. 

Throughout the 15-minute press conference journalists attempted various angles to coax and comment on how Woods' marital implosion was affecting his game. 

"There are times in one's life when things get put in perspective, one being when my father passed, and obviously what I've been going through lately," he said in his most expansive reply. 

But when asked again whether he was finding personal worries overshadowing his game, Woods had clearly had enough. 

"Everything's working itself out," was all he would say. 

When asked if that meant his troubles were still undermining his golf, Woods descended into glum-eyed silence, offering only an expression somewhere between a grimace and a frown. 

Out on the Adare Manor Golf Course, Woods felt nothing but love and admiration from the more than 20,000 fans who lined the 7,453-yard course five-deep to watch his every drive, approach shot and putt. 

Armed with a full night's sleep, Woods breezed through a course that had befuddled him on Monday, when he shot a 7-over-par 79 to fall near the bottom of the field of 54 professionals. 

Woods' Irish caddie, silver-haired Tipperary car dealer Arthur Pierse, said Woods was exhausted on Monday after flying overnight from the conclusion of the AT&T National in Pennsylvania, where he finished a distant 46th. 

He climbed back into the middle of the pack with Tuesday's performance, though the score didn't matter because the pros at the McManus Invitational typically give their prize money to Irish charities, and the event is not U.S. PGA-ranked. 

Every five years, Irish billionaire McManus persuades many of the world's top golfers to join his charity event in Adare, where three-member teams of amateurs pay —125,000 ($155,000) for the chance to play alongside the pros. 

Tuesday's rested Woods attacked the outward nine, birdieing three holes and narrowly missing others when putts clipped the hole. He missed an eagle on the 7th, the first par-5 target, by barely an inch. The day before, the same hole produced a double bogey into a pond. 

Woods' game suffered once the weather took a decidedly Irish turn at the 10th hole. Drab gray skies that previously offered softly spitting rain deteriorated into an in-your-face icy shower. Woods, setting aside his umbrella for rushed shots, underhit his approach into a bunker, then shanked the following chip shot 8 feet right of the hole. Woods slapped his wedge into the sand and groaned before two-putting for his day's first bogey. 

Woods dallied at a gourmet sausage vendor — where he inquired about what a Cumberland sausage was before opting instead for a bunless burger — until the rain eased. At the 11th, a par-3 230-yarder offering a straight shot across the River Maigue to the green, Woods planted the ball 8 feet from the hole, then nailed the putt for another birdie. 

Woods did it again on the par-4 14th, covering most of the 444 yards on his drive, then planting the ball 2 feet from the cup for another birdie. 

But just like Monday, Woods couldn't conjure any magic in his approach to the par-5, 548-yard 18th in front of the fans' main stands. He tried again to cross the river in two shots but once again put the ball into the water for his final bogey. 

One of the thousands who came specifically to Adare to see Tiger, 32-year-old high school teacher Marie O'Sullivan, snapped off pictures rapid-fire as he passed by on the 18th fairway. 

She told a reporter of her County Kerry village's recent dramatization of Woods' personal troubles, an earthy variety show called "Pride of the Parish" featuring Tiger Woods and wife Elin Nordegren in marriage counseling. In the show, she said, the couple mended their troubles with the help of a counselor. 

"If only life imitated art," said O'Sullivan, who played the role of Nordegren in the revue.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2010/07/13/2010-07-13_yankees_owner_george_steinbrenner_suffers_a_massive_heart_reports.html

Confidence in Obama reaches new low, Washington Post-ABC News poll finds

Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 13, 2010; A01

Public confidence in President Obama has hit a new low, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Four months before midterm elections that will define the second half of his term, nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president to make the right decisions for the country, and a clear majority once again disapproves of how he is dealing with the economy. 

Regard for Obama is still higher than it is for members of Congress, but the gap has narrowed. About seven in 10 registered voters say they lack confidence in Democratic lawmakers and a similar proportion say so of Republican lawmakers. 

Overall, more than a third of voters polled -- 36 percent -- say they have no confidence or only some confidence in the president, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans. Among independents, this disillusionment is higher still. About two-thirds of all voters say they are dissatisfied with or angry about the way the federal government is working.

Such broad negative sentiments have spurred a potent anti-incumbent mood. Just 26 percent of registered voters say they are inclined to support their representative in the House this fall; 62 percent are inclined to look for someone new. 

Democrats nationally remain on the defensive as they seek to retain both houses of Congress this fall. Registered voters are closely divided on the question of whether they will back Republicans or Democrats in House races. Among those who say they are sure to cast ballots in November, 49 percent side with the GOP and 45 percent with Democrats. 

Overall, a slim majority of all voters say they would prefer Republican control of Congress so that the legislative branch would act as a check on the president's policies. Those most likely to vote in the midterms prefer the GOP over continued Democratic rule by a sizable margin of 56 percent to 41 percent. 

Economic worries continue to frame the congressional campaigns. Almost all Americans rate the economy negatively, although compared with the depths of the recession in early 2009, far fewer now describe economic conditions as "poor." Only about a quarter of all Americans think the economy is improving. 

Recent economic developments -- a declining stock market, problems in the housing industry and an unemployment report showing only tepid job growth in the private sector -- may have bruised the president's ratings. 

Just 43 percent of all Americans now say they approve of the job Obama is doing on the economy, while 54 percent disapprove. Both are the worst, marginally, of his presidency. Even a third of Democrats give him negative marks here. And overall, intensity runs clearly against the president on the issue, with twice as many people rating him strongly negative as strongly positive. 

At the same time, Democrats generally continue to hold the edge over Republicans when it comes to dealing with the nation's fragile economy. But that Democratic lead is slimmer than it was in 2006 before the party won back control of Congress. And among those most likely to vote this year, 39 percent trust the Democrats more and 40 percent the Republicans. About 17 percent of likely voters put their confidence in neither side. 

Public opinion is split down the middle on the question of whether the government should spend more money to stimulate the economy in a way that leads to job creation. Among those who support such new spending, 18 percent change their minds when asked what they think if such outlays could sharply increase the budget deficit. In that scenario, 57 percent opposed another round of spending. 

About six in 10 Democrats say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who favors new government spending, while 55 percent of Republicans say they would be less likely to do so. Independent voters are divided on the question, with 41 percent more apt to oppose and 35 percent to support. 

On at least one issue pending in Congress there is broader agreement: A sizable majority says the government should extend unemployment benefits. 

Most Democrats and independents support increasing the time limit on government payments for jobless claims, and they are joined by 43 percent of Republicans. The notion clearly divides the GOP: Sixty percent of conservative Republicans oppose the idea, while 57 percent of moderate or liberal Republicans support it.

Low marks on deficit

On the question of Obama's leadership, 42 percent of registered voters now say they have confidence that he will make the right decisions for the country, with 58 saying they do not. At the start of his presidency, about six in 10 expressed confidence in his decision-making. 

Obama's overall job-approval rating stands at 50 percent, equaling his low point in Post-ABC polling; 47 percent disapprove of the job he is doing. For the first time in his presidency, those who strongly disapprove now significantly outnumber those who strongly approve. 

Among those who say they definitely will vote in November, 53 percent disapprove of the way he is handling his responsibilities. 

The president's approval ratings reached a new low among whites, at 40 percent, with his positive marks dipping under 50 percent for the first time among white college-educated women. 

On the issues tested in the poll, Obama's worst ratings come on his handling of the federal budget deficit, where 56 percent disapprove and 40 percent approve. He scores somewhat better on health-care reform (45 percent approve) and regulation of the financial industry (44 percent). His best marks come on his duties as commander in chief, with 55 percent approving. 

Obama's overall standing puts him at about the same place President Bill Clinton was in the summer of 1994, a few months before Republicans captured the House and Senate in an electoral landslide. 

President Ronald Reagan, who also contended with a serious recession at the outset of his first term, was a little lower at this point in 1982, with a 46 percent to 45 percent split on his approval ratings. Republicans went on to lose about two dozen seats in the House that fall. 

Of course, Reagan and Clinton subsequently rebounded and went on to win reelection easily. Obama advisers find some hope from that history, even as the historical record foreshadows Democratic losses this November. 

The latest poll was conducted by conventional and cellular telephone Wednesday through Sunday among a random national sample of 1,288 adults including interviews with 1,151 registered voters. The results for the full survey have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. 

Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta and polling assistant Kyle Dropp contributed to this report.

Backlash grows against full-body scanners in airports

Gary Stoller

USA TODAY

7/13/2010

Gary Stoller, USA TODAY Opposition to new full-body imaging machines to screen passengers and the government's deployment of them at most major airports is growing.   Many frequent fliers complain they're time-consuming or invade their privacy. The world's airlines say they shouldn't be used for primary security screening.  And questions are being raised about possible effects on passengers' health. 

"The system takes three to five times as long as walking through a metal detector," says Phil Bush of Atlanta, one of many fliers on USA TODAY's Road Warriors panel who oppose the machines. "This looks to be yet another disaster waiting to happen."

BODY SCANNERS: Concerns about privacy and health set off debate

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2010-07-13-bodyscans13_ST_N.htm

The machines — dubbed by some fliers as virtual strip searches — were installed at many airports in March after a Christmas Day airline bombing attempt. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has spent more than $80 million for about 500 machines, including 133 now at airports. It plans to install about 1,000 by the end of next year. 

The machines are running into complaints and questions here and overseas: 

•The International Air Transport Association, which represents 250 of the world's airlines, including major U.S. carriers, says the TSA lacks "a strategy and a vision" of how the machines fit into a comprehensive checkpoint security plan. "The TSA is putting the cart before the horse," association spokesman Steve Lott says. 

•Security officials in Dubai said this month they wouldn't use the machines because they violate "personal privacy," and information about their "side effects" on health isn't known. 

•Last month, the European Commission said in a report that "a rigorous scientific assessment" of potential health risks is needed before machines are deployed there. It also said screening methods besides the new machines should be used on pregnant women, babies, children and people with disabilities. 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in October that the TSA was deploying the machines without fully testing them and assessing whether they could detect "threat items" concealed on various parts of the body. And in March, the office said it "remains unclear" whether they would have detected the explosives that police allege Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate on a jet bound for Detroit on Christmas. 

TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee says the agency completed testing at the end of last year and is "highly confident" in the machines' detection capability. She also says their use hasn't slowed screening at airports and that the agency has taken steps to ensure privacy and safety. 

The TSA is deploying two types of machines that can see underneath clothing. One uses a high-speed X-ray beam, and the other bounces electromagnetic waves off a passenger's body.

  Passengers can refuse screening by the machines and receive a pat-down search by a security officer, screening by a metal detector, or both, the TSA says.

San Francisco's Congresswoman and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in town on Monday, taking advantage of a visit to Mission Neighborhood Centers to assure those in attendance that the Democrats will maintain control of the House.

Her remarks came after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Sunday warned on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Republicans could reclaim the House with this year's elections.

Never far away from a Pelosi press conference in her hometown, Shaky Hand Productions was there to capture it all:

"I don't think there's much likelihood [of Democrats losing control of the House], but anytime the White House wants to lower expectations, that's okay with me," Pelosi said.

Pelosi acknowledged that only Lincoln and FDR (heard of them?) had held off major midterm losses, but said, "we absolutely have no intention of losing the House."

Pelosi, whose speakership depends on how Democrats fare in November's elections, also touted the benefits of the stimulus and lambasted Republican senators for blocking legislation that Pelosi said would extend job benefits and help create or save more jobs.

She warned of an even deeper recession if Republican senators continue to filibuster against jobs bills that the House has passed.

"We don't necessarily need another stimulus package, we need public policy that keeps jobs at home," Pelosi said.

Pelosi called the Centers, which has received $136,000 from the stimulus and employs 18 people with Jobs Now! funding, a "model to the nation of what our public policy should be." She toured the community center, and a group of young children even wrote the speaker a little ditty that went something like this:

"Nancy is here! Nancy is here! We're so happy, because Nancy is here!"

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=67699&tsp=1#ixzz0tYWSSi5X

Nadia Kiderman's ex Larry Lipshutz is suing to get back this $100,000 engagement ring.

He wants the ring, but he may just get the finger.

A real estate honcho is fighting to get back the $100,000 diamond engagement ring he gave a woman he married in a Jewish religious ceremony.

Larry Lipschutz claims he was clueless that Park Ave. dentist Nadia Kiderman was still legally married to another man when they tied the knot before a rabbi, but she says things soured when she realized he was just a "a con artist preying on wealthy women." 

"There's no way I am giving him the ring back!" Kiderman said last night of the custom-made Princess-cut bauble. 

"It's something out of this world." 

As for Lipschutz, she says he wasn't the man she thought he was: "Women should run from him like fire." 

Lipschutz, 53, of Monsey, Rockland County, placed what she said was a 7-carat rock on her finger just weeks before their Orthodox Jewish wedding in September 2006.

And she gave him a $25,000 gold Rolex that he still has, she said.

He and Kiderman, 48, who lives in Westchester County, split a few weeks before the one-year anniversary of their religious ceremony, and a Rockland judge last year ordered Kiderman to return the ring. 

A state appeals court has since given Lipschutz the wedded diss, tossing the lower court decision and declaring he was "well aware" Kiderman was still married to Queens pediatrician Howard Nass when he gave her the massive diamond ring . 

Lipschutz could not be reached for comment. But a man who said he was his son blasted Kiderman as a "total fraud." 

"She's not an honest woman," he said. "He's going to get that ring back from her." 

A Lipschutz pal who asked only to be identified as "Simcha" said he understands why he wants it returned: "When I saw the ring, my jaw dropped. I said, 'Larry, you must really be crazy about her to buy her something like that.' " 

Nass and Kiderman were not divorced until December 2007, according to the appeals court decision, but a lawyer for Kiderman said that never mattered to Lipschutz. 

"His concern was not a civil divorce but a get, a Jewish divorce," said lawyer Anthony Piscionere. 

"He told her that as long as she gets the get, he wanted to marry her." 

Kiderman had secured a get from Nass in 2002. 

"A religious divorce cannot terminate a marriage," countered Abe Konstam, a lawyer for Lipschutz. "Since she didn't have a civil divorce, she was, in the eyes of New York State, still married to her first husband." 

The stunning ring remains in the hands of a third party until the couple settle their differences - or take the matter to trial. 

"He doesn't have the ring in his pocket, she doesn't have the ring on her finger," Konstam said. 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/13/2010-07-13_their_love_doesnt_ring_true_he_sues.html#ixzz0tYNwbo00