Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

speakup

UNITED STATES - Here's hoping everyone remembered mom on Sunday, especially if her main job is taking care of you, your dad and the house.

If not, you owe her approximately $117,000 for everything she's done since Mother's Day ‘07.

A study by Salary.com, a Massachusetts-based firm studying workplace compensation, released the annual rate for a stay-at-home mom if she was being compensated in dollars.

The eighth annual survey calculated the market value by studying pay levels for 10 job titles with duties typical of what a mom performs, including housekeeping, day-care costs, teacher, van driver, psychologist and chief executive officer. According to the study a working mom would be paid $68,405 a year.

The high cost is associated with the amount of overtime pay she would be given. The 18,000 moms surveyed said their normal work week as a stay-at-home mom equals 94.4 hours, while working moms reported an average 54.6 hours aside from the hours they spend at paying jobs.

UNITED STATES – Mother's Day wasn't just a small party for one Arkansas woman, it was a full-blown celebration.

Michelle Duggar, 41, of Little Rock is pregnant with her 18th child and is due on New Year's Day. She currently has seven daughters and 10 sons and all of their names start with the letter J. The oldest child is 20 and the youngest is nine months old.

The large family lives in a 650-square-metre home. Duggar and her husband, Jim Bob, say they plan to keep having children as long as God wills it.

Duggar has been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life.

MIDDLE EAST – A top Iranian judiciary official said there are consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other western toys.

In the more-than-a-decade-old government campaign against Barbie, Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to vice president Parviz Davoudi that the doll and other western toys are a "danger" and need to be stopped.

Reportedly, the letter stated, "The irregular importation of such toys, which unfortunately arrive through unofficial sources and smuggling, is destructive culturally and a social danger."

While importing the toys is not necessarily illegal, it is discouraged by a government which seeks to protect Iranians from what it calls the negative effects of western culture. Najafabadi said the increasing visibility of western dolls has alarmed authorities and they are considering intervening.

"The displays of personalities such as Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter ... as well as the irregular importation of unsanctioned computer games and movies are all warning bells to the officials in the cultural arena," his letter said.

A news report stated Mattel Inc., the maker of Barbie, had no immediate comment on the Iranian action.

Barbie wears swimsuits and miniskirts, which creates controversy in a society where women must wear headscarves in public and men and women are not allowed to swim together.

Column completed through Internet research.