POSTED: 10:26 pm CST January 24, 2012
UPDATED: 10:55 pm CST January 24, 2012
Copyright 2012 by WISN.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.wisn.com/news/30292209/detail.html
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RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins has only been at the reigns for an evening, but he did a very "BlackBerry" job of presenting himself to the media this morning on his introductory media call. It felt a lot like the media calls of yore, with Balsillie and Lazaridis at the helm. Especially when Heins referred to Apple as "the other fruit company," noting the two companies shared strategy of vertical integration. Unfortunately, vertical integration of software and hardware is about all that these two fruits have in common. Remember folks, Heins is coming off of a four-year stint at RIM. At the relatively young company, Heins worked under founder Mike Lazaridis and his partner in crime Jim Balsillie. That said, you can basically hear Lazaridis-style hubris in Heins' comments. When asked if there was anything Heins wanted to do in the past, but was held back from by his position, Heins confirms that he (along with the freshly removed prior leadership) doesn't see much wrong with RIM.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wsYJZRjOrro/
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UPDATE: That was fast. Dionisio Soldevila of the?Associated Press was told by?Cespedes? representative,?Edgar Mercedes, that not only has the Cuban outfielder established residency in the Dominican Republic, he has also officially been granted free agency by MLB.?In fact, Cespedes stopped playing in the Dominican Winter League playoffs at the urging of MLB teams.
We haven?t heard any clarification from MLB on the matter, so it?s possible Mercedes may have jumped the gun,?but it?s safe to say things are about to heat up.
6:26 PM: While the Prince Fielder sweepstakes has finally reached a resolution, the bidding for?Yoenis Cespedes is just about to begin.
Cespedes? representative,?Edgar Mercedes, told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com that the Cuban outfielder has finally established residency in the Dominican Republic. He is now waiting on approval from MLB to become a free agent.
Cespedes recently told?Dionisio Soldevila of the Associated Press that the Cubs,?Marlins, White Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Indians have shown the most interest in him. However, it?s possible the Tigers will be less willing to pony up after agreeing to a nine-year, $214 million contract with Fielder earlier today. Still, most expect the 26-year-old outfielder will end up with a contract richer than the $30.25 million deal Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman signed with the Reds two years ago.
Cespedes, 26, recently went 5-for-35 (.143) with one home run and a 10/0 K/BB ratio during a stint with Aguilas?Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League playoffs. While it?s unlikely the poor performance will have a significant impact on his asking price, it wouldn?t be surprising if he needs some seasoning in the minor leagues.
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It looks like Sony's been reading our daily email missives, bemoaning the state of its PlayStation certified gaming selection. The message appears to be getting through, with several PSP titles getting spotted over at the Entertainment Software Rating Board with PlayStation certification. Ahead of any official fanfare, there's no big hitters here just yet, but titles like Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Daxter are likely to be more resonant with gamers than the pitiful offering we've seen so far from its PS Store app. Alongside Syphon Filter and Daxter, PS3 port Fl0w and Pinball Heroes were also spotted getting their contents okayed by the ESRB. Unsurprisingly, there's no detail here on release dates or technical requirements -- something that we reckon could be important, given the technical gap between the Xperia Play and the dual-cored innards of Sony's tablets. It's also worth noting that Pinball Heroes is already available on the Tablet P. Sorry Sony, but we'd still trade all of what's been leaked here for a portable version of the original Metal Gear Solid -- without hesitation.
PSP games get ESRB rating for PlayStation certified devices, coming soon to Sony phones and tablets? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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SANAA (Reuters) ? Yemen's outgoing president Ali Abdullah Saleh left for Oman on Sunday evening on his way to the United States for medical treatment, Yemeni officials said.
An airport official said the plane took off from Sanaa airport to neighboring Oman, and an aide to Saleh said he would stay there for several days before heading to the United States.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Andrew Hammond Editing by Maria Golovnina)
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Etta James's sultry voice provided an entire generation's worth of inspiration to modern songstresses. CNN reports major players in the music industry such as Mariah Carey and Beyonce Knowles were both influenced by her songs and style. The Associated Press reports James passed away Jan. 20 in California from complications related to leukemia.
James was a matriarch for the modern female blues singer throughout her life.
1938: Born
The Biography Channel states James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938. By the age of 5, she was singing gospel choir songs in church and on the radio.
1950: Moved North
When James turned 12, she and her family moved north to San Francisco. She formed a trio with two other girls and singing became an even larger part of her life. Very quickly, the girls got noticed and James turned to professional singing.
1954: Return to L.A.
In 1954, James returned to Los Angeles to get more heavily involved in the recording industry. Johnny Otis spotted her two years earlier in San Francisco and the young lady embarked on a singing career, against the will of her mother. She changed her stage name to Etta James, a re-arrangement of her first name and was given a back up group called the Peaches (James's childhood nickname).
Her first recording, and first hit, came a year later. James sang "Roll with Me Henry" with Richard Berry. The song was renamed "The Wallflower" and it topped the R&B charts in 1955.
1960: Meteoric Rise
James signed a recording deal with Chess Records in Chicago in 1960. From this point, her career took off and never looked back. Hits such as "All I Could Do Was Cry," "Somthing's Got a Hold on Me," and "Trust in Me" were all hits during her run with Chess Records in the 1960s and early 1970s.
1973: Grammy Nomination
Her self-titled album "Etta James" earned James the first of several Grammy nominations in her career.
1984: Olympic Glory
James sang "When the Saints Go Marching In" for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
1993: Hall of Fame
James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1993. At this point in her career, James was recognized for her wide-ranging vocals and styles that marked her long career.
2003: Grammy
In 2003, James was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her sassy and no-nonsense singing style was recognized for being open, honest and heart wrenching simultaneously.
2011: Last Album
James's last album entitled "The Dreamer" was released in November 2011, three months before her death. The Associated Press reports her last album was typical James fare as she even rocked out to the Guns 'N Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle."
The audacious songstress died five days short of her 74th birthday.
William Browning is a research librarian.
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A clear victory could all but secure the nomination for Romney, but a close call or loss would be detrimental, experts say.
By Gil Kaufman
Mitt Romney
Photo: Joe Raedle/ Getty Images
No Republican has ever won his party's presidential nomination without notching a win in South Carolina. That's just one reason former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is hoping that when the dust clears Saturday night (January 21), he will be celebrating his second primary win in a row and, in theory, the key to his party's nomination.
South Carolina was expected to present Romney with his biggest challenge to date, due to its heavy Evangelical population. The man vying to be the Republican Party's first Mormon presidential nominee was up by anywhere from 11 to 15 points in polls taken in the week before Saturday's vote, with some predicting he'd get more than 40 percent of the vote. By Friday morning, however, a number of polls had him in either a dead heat with or trailing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Both men were well ahead of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Congressman Ron Paul.
In addition to his eroding poll numbers, Romney suffered a series of unfortunate events Thursday when a further analysis of the vote in Iowa revealed that Santorum had actually won the too-close-to-call Iowa caucus by 34 votes, erasing Romney's razor-thin eight-vote win and his bragging rights for going 2-and-0. A short time later, Texas Governor Rick Perry abruptly dropped out of the race, throwing his support behind Gingrich.
"If [Romney] wins South Carolina, it depends by how much. If he wins by 15, I would say, yes, he's [the presumptive nominee]; if it's in the close single digits, he's not running at a pace to get the majority of the delegates," said Columbia University professor of political science Robert Y. Shapiro, an expert in voting and political behavior. "All Gingrich has to do is stay in and if can run close enough and continue to raise money he could keep running."
Romney, who still has his solid New Hampshire win in pocket, has been taking heavy fire from Gingrich over the past few weeks. The former congressman has taken Romney to task for what he has deemed his opponent's "vulture capitalist" ways while running the investment firm Bain Capital, where Romney oversaw the shuttering of a number of businesses, resulting in numerous layoffs. Romney has hit back at Gingrich for what he labeled an attack on "free enterprise," accusing him of sounding like a Democrat in his criticisms.
Larry Parnell, an associate professor and program director of the graduate school of political management at George Washington University, said the net effect of a potential Romney win and a possible shift in Perry voters to Gingrich could turn what he described as a "circular firing squad" of GOP nominees into a duel between the two men. "If [Romney] wins South Carolina, he will still have to deal with Gingrich, and it could slow him down," said Parnell, a former press aide for the presidential campaign of Democrat Jimmy Carter.
In terms of appearances, Parnell said even with a win in South Carolina, Romney is not likely to declare himself the presumptive candidate, because it could draw even more fire from his remaining opponents. "It's in his best interest to keep conducting himself the way he has," he said. "To say that now he's ready to take on President Obama is just waving a red flag in front of Gingrich." As long as he continues on the slow-and-steady path of wins, Parnell said, Romney should be able to weather the storms and likely come out on top.
After the now-narrow loss in Iowa and a more convincing win in independent-leaning New Hampshire, observers have been looking to the solidly red state of South Carolina as the first test of whether Romney can convince traditional Evangelical voters that he is the right choice for the party. Parnell said that given South Carolina's record in picking the eventual establishment candidate, any deviation from that norm (i.e., a too-close-to-call Gingrich finish or win) could cause some serious problems for Romney. A win, however, would prove Romney is a viable national candidate and ease the pressure on him to win over the party's still-reluctant-to-commit base.
Over the past week, Gingrich urged Santorum and Perry to drop out of the race so conservative voters can rally behind just one "anti-Romney" candidate, arguing that he is the only remaining candidate who knows how to build a national campaign. Even as his poll numbers jumped, though, Gingrich faced another obstacle Thursday when his second ex-wife appeared in an ABC News interview in which she claimed the former speaker had urged her to have an "open" marriage so he could continue an affair with his then-mistress, now-wife Callista.
Both men agreed a solid Romney win in South Carolina could all but ensure his eventual path to the nomination, though a close Gingrich finish could propel the ex-congressman to Florida's primary January 31.
Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage on the primary races and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season.
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677670/mitt-romney-south-carolina-primary-preview.jhtml
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2012) ? A team of researchers at the University of California, Merced, has redesigned luminescent solar concentrators to be more efficient at sending sunlight to solar cells.
The advancement could be an important breakthrough for solar energy harvesting, said UC Merced physics Professor Sayantani Ghosh, who led the project.
"We tweaked the traditional flat design for luminescent solar concentrators and made them into cylinders," Ghosh said. "The results of this architectural redesign surprised us, as it significantly improves their efficiency."
The main problem preventing luminescent concentrators from being used commercially is that they have high rates of self-absorption, Ghosh said, meaning they absorb a significant amount of the light they produce instead of transporting it to the solar cells.
The research team showed the problem can be addressed by changing the shape of the concentrator. They discovered a hollow cylindrical solar concentrator is a better design compared with a flat concentrator or a solid cylinder concentrator. The hollow cylinders absorb more sunlight while having lower self-absorption losses.
Luminiscent solar concentrators are designed to absorb solar radiation over a broad range of colors and re-emit it over a narrower range (for example, only red), a process known as down-converting. This light is transported to solar cells for photocurrent generation. The quantum dots embedded in the concentrator are the materials that carry out this color conversion.
The biggest advantage they offer over traditional solar cells is that they can work even in diffuse sunlight, like on cloudy days. And because of this, they do not need to directly face the sun at all times, eliminating the need for tracking mechanisms.
Ghosh said the discovery could make commercially viable luminescent solar concentrators a reality, especially because the design enhances performance while using the same number of quantum dots, therefore without being more costly.
This saves on infrastructure costs and also opens up the possibility that the collectors can be integrated onto vertical surfaces like walls and windows. The next step is to develop a large array of hollow cylindrical luminescent solar concentrators and track the efficiency of the panel.
Richard Inman, Georgiy Shcherbatyuk, Dmitri Medvedko and Ajay Gopinathan are the other members of the team that conducted this research.
Inman served as the lead researcher while he was an undergraduate at UC Merced, an example of the hands-on learning opportunities available to students. He's now a graduate student at UC San Diego. Medvedko is an undergraduate student, and Shcherbatyuk is a graduate student. Gopinathan is a physics professor.
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WASHINGTON ? Dredging up a past that Newt Gingrich has worked hard to bury, the GOP presidential candidate's second ex-wife says Gingrich asked for an "open marriage" in which he could have both a wife and a mistress.
In an interview with ABC News' "Nightline" scheduled to air Thursday night, Marianne Gingrich said she refused to go along with the idea that she share her husband with Callista Bisek, who would later become his third wife.
The explosive interview was airing just two days before the presidential primary in South Carolina, a state with a strong Christian conservative bent, and as Gingrich tries to present himself as the strongest alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney.
In excerpts of the interview released ahead the ABC broadcast, Marianne Gingrich said her husband conducted his affair with Callista "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington" while she was elsewhere.
"He always called me at night and always ended with `I love you,'" she said. "Well, she was listening."
Marianne Gingrich, who was Gingrich's second wife, said Gingrich told her "Callista doesn't care what I do."
"He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused," she said. "That is not a marriage."
She also said Gingrich moved to divorce her just months after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
"He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress," she said. "He knew."
Gingrich, asked by a voter Thursday about his past mistakes, said questions about his past life were inevitable but that he'd long since sought forgiveness. He said he expected attacks when he got into the race.
"We knew we would get beaten up," he said while campaigning in Beaufort, S.C. "We knew we'd get lied about. We knew we'd get smeared. We knew there would be nasty ads and we decided the country was worth the pain."
Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond flatly rejected Marianne Gingrich's account, saying: "It couldn't be any more opposite of the truth."
He told reporters that he wouldn't say anything against his ex-wife, but added that his two daughters from his first marriage had written to ABC to complain that the interview was "tawdry and inappropriate." He didn't answer questions about the specifics of the interview, directing questions to his daughters.
In an interview Thursday with The Washington Post, Marianne Gingrich said that within days of asking for a divorce, her husband gave a speech in which he stressed the importance of ethics and family values in American culture.
"How could he ask me for a divorce on Monday and within 48 hours give a speech about family values and talk about how people treat people?" she said.
Marianne Gingrich said she and Gingrich went to marriage counseling after he asked for the divorce, but that he wavered over what to do and asked for an open marriage to allow him to see whoever he wanted.
She said she decided to go public about the details from their marriage now in order "to get out there about who I was, so Newt couldn't create me as an evil, awful person, which was starting to happen."
Hammond, the Gingrich spokesman, told the AP on Thursday afternoon that the candidate had never asked for an open marriage.
"Divorces are very tough and people have very different recollections of how things happen," he said.
Marianne Gingrich has said that Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981; they were married six months later. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich has acknowledged he'd already taken up with Bisek, a former congressional aide.
The House speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.
As plans to air the interview were disclosed, Gingrich's campaign released a statement from his daughters, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman, suggesting that Marianne Gingrich's comments may be suspect given the emotional toll that divorce takes on everyone involved.
"Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes differing memories of events. We will not say anything negative about our father's ex-wife," they said. "He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves."
Gingrich has worked in recent years to present himself as changed man, offering himself in this campaign as a 68-year-old grandfather who has settled down with wife No. 3 and embraced God through Catholicism.
Last year, he said it would be up to voters to decide whether to hold his past against him.
"I think people have to look at me, ask tough questions, then render judgment," he said then.
But he may not have been banking on his ex-wife, who has been silent so far in the 2012 campaign, to re-start that conversation.
A message seeking comment from Marianne Gingrich was not immediately returned.
___
Associated Press writer Shannon McCaffrey in Beaufort, S.C., contributed to this report.
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Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images file
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Janis Joplin would have turned 69 today. Jim Morrison would have just blown out 68 candles, and Jimi Hendrix would be staring down 70 come November.
Rolling Stone links to this photo of Joplin on their cover in August 1970. She looks as real as her lyrics. You wouldn't see a face this normal on Rolling Stone's cover today -- it seems a part of being a musician, at least a female one, is to be nipped and tucked and brushed and curled and made up till your album cover runs the risk of being confused with a fashion magazine.
Joplin wasn't like that, and it's one of the many reasons her talents and personality are so missed.
And also: It's one thing to write a birthday post about someone who's still with us (hello, Mary Tyler Moore and Betty White). But remembering someone who died so young is different. You can't help but wonder what their life would have brought had they lived.
Not just Joplin, Morrison and Hendrix, but John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, and so many others.
Where would their talents have brought them? Who would they have touched? What musical memories would we now be carrying in our hearts alongside the hits they had time to give us?
Here are a few of Joplin's hits.
"Me and Bobby McGee"
?"Mercedes Benz"
?
"Piece of My Heart"
?
What's your favorite Joplin song? Tell us on Facebook.
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Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10191432-janis-joplin-would-have-turned-69-today
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Wikipedia will black out the English language version of its website Wednesday to protest anti-piracy legislation under consideration in Congress, the foundation behind the popular community-based online encyclopedia said in a statement Monday night.
The website will go dark for 24 hours in an unprecedented move that brings added muscle to a growing base of critics of the legislation. Wikipedia is considered one of the Internet's most popular websites, with millions of visitors daily.
"If passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States," the Wikimedia foundation said.
The Stop Online Piracy Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate are designed to crack down on sales of pirated U.S. products overseas.
Supporters include the film and music industry, which often sees its products sold illegally. They say the legislation is needed to protect intellectual property and jobs.
Critics say the legislation could hurt the technology industry and infringe on free-speech rights. Among their concerns are provisions that would weaken cyber-security for companies and hinder domain access rights.
The most controversial provision is in the House bill, which would have enabled federal authorities to "blacklist" sites that are alleged to distribute pirated content. That would essentially cut off portions of the Internet to all U.S. users. But congressional leaders appear to be backing off this provision.
Tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay, AOL and others have spoken out against the legislation and said it threatens the industry's livelihood. Several online communities such as Reddit, Boing Boing and others have announced plans to go dark in protest as well.
The Obama administration also raised concerns about the legislation over the weekend and said it will work with Congress on legislation to help battle piracy and counterfeiting while defending free expression, privacy, security and innovation in the Internet.
Wikipedia's decision to go dark brings the issue into a much brighter spotlight. A group of Wikipedia users have discussed for more than a month whether it should react to the legislation.
Over the past few days, a group of more than 1,800 volunteers who work on the site and other users considered several forms of online protest, including banner ads and a global blackout of the site, the foundation said. Ultimately, the group supported the decision to black out the English version of the site.
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia who first announced the move on his Twitter account Monday, said the bills are a threat to the free, open, and secure web.
"The whole thing is just a poorly designed mess," Wales said in an email to The Associated Press.
Wikipedia is also requesting that readers contact members of Congress about the bill during the blackout.
"I am personally asking everyone who cares about freedom and openness on the Internet to contact their Senators and Representative," Wales said. "One of the things we have learned recently during the Arab spring events is that the Internet is a powerfully effective tool for the public to organize and have their voices heard."
Wikipedia will shut down access from midnight Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday night until midnight Wednesday.
This is the first time Wikipedia's English version has gone dark. Its Italian site came down once briefly in protest to an Internet censorship bill put forward by the Berlusconi government; the bill did not advance.
"Wikipedia is about being open," said Jay Walsh, spokesman for the Wikimedia foundation. "We are not about shutting down and protesting. It's not a muscle that is normally flexed."
___
Skidmore reported from Portland, Ore.
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Aristotle said it first; neuroscience confirms it. To be effective, communications must work on an emotional and rational level. In fact, unless a message affects your customer emotionally, there is no way he or she can make a purchase decision. This is true no matter what you are selling: tractors, financial services, soda or cosmetics. Most marketers and agencies know this in their bones. The problem is that it?s hard to access emotions in either the strategy development or communications-testing phase.
?Lately we have done a lot of advertising testing work using Create/Debate groups, our version of focus groups. Both the marketers and agencies have found the process productive because:
?Based on these experiences, here are some tips you can use in your qualitative research to ensure your work is impacting your customers on both the emotional/intuitive and rationale/logical level.
1. Avoid left-brain only avenues of inquiry. Language is a left-brain form of communication. So if all you are doing in groups is talking, you are only tapping into one part of the brain. ?You may also be picking up clues as to the person?s feelings and intentions via body language, tone and manner and that is helpful, of course. But there are tools (like collaging, drawing, music) that will help you tap into right brain insights more explicitly. That way, you will get deeper insights and your research participants will have more fun.
2. Whole brain thinking requires generating ideas (creative thinking) as well as evaluative/analytical thinking. Often in groups, we ask people what they think and why. It?s a great thing to do ? but it only lets us in on part of the story, since their replies are mostly analytical in nature.
?Instead, ask them to create a response by brainstorming together and, in small teams, build a story that requires them to generate ideas ? which makes the analytical phase that much more interesting.
If, for example, you are testing communications, let your groups see your work and then ask the smaller/sub teams to create collages that show how they feel about the work and what they will do as a result of it. The sheer act of working together and putting together a project that reflects their feelings helps them go beyond the obvious and dig deeper for how they truly feel and think.
?3. Presenting it to the rest of the group is the final piece of the puzzle. Ask the teams to present their ideas to the rest of the group and encourage the rest of the group to ask questions. It requires people to take a stand. And you can see for yourself how strong that stand is.
?This approach is designed to explicitly tap into the right brain (which works visually and metaphorically) as well as the left brain. It might sound a little ?out there? but it results in deeper participant engagement, more authentic feedback and ultimately stronger creative work. Every time.
?Call us for references or more ideas about how you can dig deeper in your communication research projects.
?
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GAZA (Reuters) ? A Palestinian man who had been preparing an attack on Israeli targets was killed on Saturday in an explosion at the home of a militant leader in the Gaza Strip, his group said.
The explosion took place at the Rafah home of Zuhair Al-Qaissi, chief commander of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an armed Palestinian faction that often operates independently of Gaza's Hamas rulers.
The PRC confirmed the man killed was a member of the group and that he was preparing an attack on Israelis when the blast occurred. Al-Qaissi himself was not hurt in the explosion.
Al-Qaissi's predecessor, Kamal al-Nairab was killed in an Israeli air strike in August.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Maayan Lubell)
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President Barack Obama delivers remarks on government reform, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President Barack Obama delivers remarks on government reform, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is promoting new initiatives to make the government leaner and more efficient and bring jobs back to the U.S. from overseas.
He rolled out both election-year ideas this past week and used his radio and Internet address Saturday to talk them up and call on Congress and the private sector to get on board.
"Right now, we have a 21st century economy, but we've still got a government organized for the 20th century," Obama said. "Over the years, the needs of Americans have changed, but our government has not. In fact, it's gotten even more complex. And that has to change."
On government reorganization, Obama wants a guarantee from Congress that he could get a vote within 90 days on any idea to consolidate federal agencies, provided it saves money and cuts the government. His first order of business would be to merge six major trade and commerce agencies into one ? eliminating, among others, the Commerce Department.
The proposal is in part a challenge to congressional Republicans since it embraces the traditional GOP goal of smaller government, and Obama called on Congress to back him.
"These changes will make it easier for small-business owners to get the loans and support they need to sell their products around the world," he said.
Obama is also promising new tax incentives for businesses that bring jobs to the U.S. instead of shipping them overseas, and he wants to eliminate tax breaks for companies that outsource.
"You've heard of outsourcing - well, this is insourcing," said Obama. "And in this make or break moment for the middle class and those working to get into the middle class, that's exactly the kind of commitment to country that we need."
Obama went so far as to bring several U.S.-made products to display in his weekly video ? a padlock, a candle, some socks and a pair of boots ? to demonstrate his commitment to made-in-America manufacturing.
Republicans used their weekly address to promote the Keystone XL project to carry oil from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Under a GOP-written provision Obama signed into law just before Christmas as part of an unrelated tax bill, the president faces a Feb. 21 deadline to decide whether the $7 billion pipeline is in the national interest.
The GOP is pounding Obama over the issue, saying it's a question of whether he wants to create jobs and import energy from a close friend and ally ? or lose jobs and see Canadian oil go to Asia instead.
"If the Keystone XL pipeline isn't built, Canadian oil will still be produced and transported," said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. "But instead of coming to our refineries in the United States, instead of creating jobs for our people, instead of reducing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and keeping down the cost of fuel for American consumers ? that oil will be sent to China."
Obama had sought to delay the project and the State Department has warned the deadline doesn't leave it enough time for necessary reviews. Hoeven accused Obama of turning his back on American workers if he fails to approve it.
___
Online:
Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov
GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress
Associated Presssweet potato recipes green bean casserole recipe karina smirnoff pumpkin cheesecake deviled eggs pie crust pie crust
COMMENTARY | Remember the good old days when enchanted fans would scream Barack Obama's name and faint in the very rapture of his presence? Remember when Hollywood stars would trip over each other to be near him and tried to out-do each other in praising his holy name?
With the evidence of his dismal poll numbers he already knows -- as reported by Salon in June 2011 -- that among his everyday fans across America "it's not as cool to be an Obama supporter as it was in 2008, with the posters and all of that stuff." But, after three years of failing to keep the promises he made in exchange for their support, his more high-profile and influential fans in Hollywood are starting to bail on him too.
Back in 2009, Harry Belafonte bought into Obama's promises and the "yes we can" rhetoric. But -- after three years of "no I can't" reality -- an expose by Radio Equalizer reveals that not only does the Calypso man think Obama failed to tally those "hope and change" bananas he is convinced that the president lacks a "moral compass" and doesn't deserve a second term.
In 2009, a CNN report quoted Angelina Jolie saying that while she wanted to believe that "President Obama and his special envoy Scott Gration will do their best" to help the Sudanese people and bring peace to the region, his track record for keeping his promises gave her cause to doubt his word.
On Tuesday, the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nation's High Commission told the Daily Caller that she was "disappointed" in the way Obama throws around foreign aid money with no apparent thought to using it effectively.
"When the administration says it intends to work to 'improve the lives of the people of Darfur,' " Jolie explained, "I would like to know what that means -- besides the obvious point that their lives could hardly get worse."
But it isn't like Obama's apathy about the plight of people suffering is exclusive to those living in other countries. He told American's languishing under the crushing effects of his disastrous economic policies right here at home the same thing in 2010.
George Clooney use to be a major Obama BFF, contacting the president several times a week by phone, text and email to give him body language, presentation and policy advice. Now Clooney just makes fun of Obama for his "class warfare" agenda against people like him who "make more than $1 million a year" as reported by the New York Post in September.
Back in July 2008, the Irish Times reported Robert Redford predicting that, if Barack Obama didn't win the presidency, "you can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye."
In September 2011 Redford wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post essentially telling Obama to kiss his backside for his broken promises to protect the environment.
"What good is it to say the right thing unless you act on it?" Redford wrote.
In 2007 Oprah Winfrey used her juggernaut status as the most powerful woman in Hollywood to publicly endorse Obama. After that endorsement trashed her career it comes as no surprise that she refuses to back him for his 2012 re-election effort.
As reported by NBC, a lot of A-Listers are jumping the Good Ship Obamalollipop; Matt Damon, Barbara Streisand, Jane Lynch, Hugh Heffner, Spike Lee, Bill Maher, and Rose McGowen to name a few.
Even Michael Moore, who threw his sizable weight behind Obama's 2008 presidential campaign through his website MichaelMoore.com, is now convinced that rather than being "a chance for redemption" Obama is nothing more than a Wall Street puppet scam artist.
In December the U.K. Independent confirmed the end of the Obama-Hollywood romance saying that the "warm, fuzzy optimism that characterized his last election" along with the "five-figure" donation checks have "more or less vanished."
Norman Lear - the powerful Hollywood king-pin who founded People for the American Way to "speak out for Bill of Rights guarantees and to monitor violations of constitutional freedoms" -- "gave just over ?21,000" ($26,932.50 U.S.) to Obama in 2008.
For his 2012 re-election effort - because Obama can't square "the policies he has pursued in office with his 2008 rhetoric" -- the head of what the Independent described as "perhaps the most influential advocacy organization" in the United States "will not give a cent this time."
"Unrequited love does not die," wrote Elle Newark in The Book of Unholy Mischief. "It's only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded."
Still, even in the land of make-believe, not all of Hollywood's stars are numbered among the "unfortunates" who have turned "bitter and mean" over Obama's unreciprocated devotion. Some knew all along that it was a sham.
"I've always said that the next Obama slogan should be, 'Barack Obama: Putting America out of Business,' James Woods told New York Magazine back in October 2010, "because that's what he's doing."
Then again, Woods is a Republican so it should come as no surprise that he already knew what it has taken the majority of his Democratic tinsel town counterparts three years to figure out.
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WASHINGTON ? Seeking more power to shrink the government, President Barack Obama on Friday suggested smashing six economic agencies into one, an election-year idea intended to halt bureaucratic nightmares and force Republicans to back him on one of their own favorite issues.
"The government we have is not the government we need," Obama told business owners he'd gathered at the White House.
Sounding like a manager of a disorganized company, and looking like one by pointing to slides as he spoke, Obama asked Congress to give him a kind of reorganization power no president has had since Ronald Reagan. It would guarantee Obama a vote, within 90 days, on any idea he offers to consolidate agencies, provided it saves money and cuts the government.
His first target: Merging six major trade and commerce agencies into a one-stop-shopping department for American businesses. The Commerce Department would be among those that would seek to exist.
Congress would keep the final say, but Obama would have a stronger hand to skip much of the outside lobbying and fighting and get right to a vote.
Attacking senseless duplication across the executive branch he runs, Obama said: "Why is it OK for our government? It's not. It has to change."
Politically, Obama is seeking advantage on the turf often owned by Republicans: Smaller government. He is attempting to directly counter Republican arguments that he has presided over the kind of regulation, spending and debt that can undermine the economy ? a dominant theme of this year's debate and one often cited by his potential re-election rival, Republican Mitt Romney.
Obama put himself on the side of business people who deal with the government as part of their daily life and are exasperated by a maze of agencies, permits and Web sites.
"We can do this better," he told them. "So much of the argument out there all the time is up in 40,000 feet, these abstract arguments about who's conservative or who's liberal. ...You guys are just trying to figure out, how do we make things work? How do we apply common sense? And that's what this is about."
In making his case, the president sought to target the design of the bureaucracy as the problem, not the employees who serve it.
Congressional reaction seemed generally favorable, but cautious.
Republicans skeptically pointed to Obama's past promises as the size of the nation's debt keeps growing.
"It's not often that we see real proposals from this administration to make government smaller," said Rep. Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "I look forward to reviewing the proposal, and hope that it will be the first of many to unravel the red tape."
Indeed, Obama promised more plans to shrink things if given more power, citing inefficiencies all across the government.
Obama had an imperative to deliver. He made the promise to come up with a smart reorganization of the government in his State of the Union speech last January.
He made some waves at the time by pointing out the absurdity of government inefficiency, noting fresh water and saltwater salmon were regulated by different agencies.
The White House said the problem is serious for consumers who turn to their government for help and often do not know where to begin.
Not in decades has the government undergone a sustained reorganization of itself. Presidents have tried from time to time, but each part of the bureaucracy has its own defenders inside and outside the government, which can make merger ideas politically impossible. That's particularly true because "efficiency" is often another way of saying people will lose their jobs.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she hoped Congress would quickly approve Obama's proposal, which she said tracked with worries Democrats have been hearing from small business owners. Many lawmakers of both parties expressed support in principle but wariness about how programs and the prerogatives of Congress may be affected.
Beyond the politics, the merger Obama offered would have big implications for trade and commerce in America.
Presidents held a fast-track reorganizational authority for about 50 years until it ran out during Reagan's presidency in 1984, the White House argued.
Obama wants to merge: the Commerce Department's core business and trade functions; the Small Business Administration; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Export-Import Bank; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the Trade and Development Agency.
The White House says 1,000 to 2,000 jobs would be cut, but the administration would do so through attrition. The administration says the consolidation would save $3 billion over 10 years by getting rid of duplicative overhead and programs, although it has yet to spell out any plan in detail.
Obama's announcement treads on ground that Romney, the Republican front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, frequently stakes out on the campaign trail. Romney often says he would try to shrink government by eliminating offices that duplicate functions performed somewhere else, citing as examples more than 80 different workforce training programs.
Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said streamlining government was always a potentially good idea but expressed suspicion about whether the plan by Obama would really help business. Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, pledged Obama's plan would get a careful review.
But he added: "It's interesting to see the president finally acknowledge that Washington is out of control."
__
Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt, Alan Fram, Erica Werner and Ken Thomas contributed to this story.
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Boost Mobile announced that they will be offering the LG Marquee on their $55 Android plan starting January 23. The phone will cost $279.99 (plus taxes if applicable) at Boost retail locations and online, and that money gets you a slim smartphone with a great display. This is the same LG Marquee we saw unveiled for Sprint last fall in New York, and is the Americanized version of the LG Optimus Black. Specs are mid-range in today's world of dual-cores and nuclear-powered handsets, but are actually pretty good for a pre-paid device:
With Boost Mobile's interesting shrinkage plans (payments gradually get less the longer you keep making them) this could be a great choice for a lot of folks.
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/PRbWClGKi7g/story01.htm
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Getty Images
Ashton Kutcher ditched his long hair and beard as part of a plot twist on "Two and a Half Men."
By TODAY.com news services
A clean-cut Ashton Kutcher said Wednesday that he's interested in continuing with "Two and a Half Men" beyond this season -- and CBS wants him, too.
Kutcher's addition to television's most popular comedy following star Charlie Sheen's implosion was a grand experiment that has worked out better than CBS or the producers could have dreamed.
The show is up 20 percent in viewers over Sheen's final season, the Nielsen ratings company said, and Kutcher has also brought in a younger crowd.
Which look do you prefer on Ashton Kutcher?
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VoteTotal Votes: 11461
"I've had a blast," said Kutcher, who plays the heartbroken Walden Schmidt. "Since I stopped doing 'That '70s Show' I've always wanted to go back and do television."
Kutcher appeared at a news conference without the long hair and beard he has worn this season. It was cut as part of the plot in an episode of "Two and a Half Men" that airs Monday, he said.
"I'm sure there will be people now that I've cut my hair and shaved my beard that want me to have long hair and a beard," Kutcher said. "And there were people that when I had a beard and long hair they wanted me to be? shaved and have a haircut.
Us Weekly also reports that Kutcher, who split from wife Demi Moore after six years of marriage,?fidgeted with his wedding band throughout the talk.
Series creator Chuck Lorre said he gave thought to ending the series after Sheen left last season and couldn't imagine it continuing. But CBS and his co-creator, Lee Aronsohn, nudged him to continue.
"Lee said, 'Why not try? If we fail, no one would be physically harmed,'" Lorre said. "It seemed like such a heartbreaking way to end, and we didn't want it to, so we said let's keep the light on."
Lorre, who was the target of sharp barbs from Sheen last spring after he was fired, said he wished his former star well.
"I really do," he said. "I'm glad he's sober and I think it's terrific."
Are you happy with Kutcher on "Two and a Half Men" and would you welcome him back? Discuss on Facebook.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. ? At the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?s Annual State of Business Address, President Tom Donohue outlined an agenda for 2012 and indicated that the Chamber would push for Congress to grapple with some of the serious issues facing the economy this year, rather than trying to push off real action until after the election in November.
?As we begin 2012,? Donohue said, ?we can say that the state of American business is improving ? but it is doing so weakly, slowly and insufficiently to put our nation back to work.?
With that in mind, the Chamber?s 2012 agenda focuses on five categories: Energy and infrastructure; expanding trade, investment and tourism; regulatory reform; innovation; and entitlement reform.
Energy, Donohue said, is ?the next big thing.?
?With the right policies, the oil and natural gas industry could create more than 1 million jobs by 2018,? as well as earn money for the government, and decrease ?dependence on overseas imports.?
Donohue specifically singled out the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
?This project has passed every environmental test. There is no legitimate reason ? none at all ? to subject it to further delay,? Donohue said.
He also called for investment in the nation?s infrastructure.
Donohue called for a ?bold trade agenda,? which he said should include a pact with the European Union, as well as include free trade deals with Brazil, Egypt and India, among others.
Additionally, he said, the U.S. ?should make a major effort to attract global investors. ? We need to negotiate more bilateral investment treaties to ensure that American investors are treated fairly overseas.?
He also called for easing travel restrictions to encourage tourism.
The mounting number of regulations, Donohue said, ?adds up to a big drag on our economy.? Though there is some necessary regulation ? regulation he said the Chamber would support if implemented ? the fact that there are ?more regulations in the pipeline today than currently exist,? Donohue said, was evidence of ?a regulatory system run amok? that ?is needlessly driving American jobs out of the country or out of existence.?
To revitalize American innovation, Donohue called for patent reform, a ?crackdown on foreign websites whose only purpose is to trick consumers, steal American jobs and pollute the vibrant internet marketplace,? as well as immigration reform ?to allow the world?s best minds and most creative entrepreneurs to stay in our country after we educate them in our top universities.? He also called for reform in the education system.
Corporate tax law, Donohue said, is also a huge drag on business because our current corporate tax rate ? ?one of the highest ? in the world? ? prevents us from being competitive.
Lastly, Donohue said, ?All of us need to face the fundamental reality that the only way to continue these [entitlement] programs is to make constructive changes and make them now.?
The Chamber will be actively involved in pressing these policies on a Congress and president that, for the next 11 months, will be inclined at times to let ?politicking ? take precedence over policy making,? in the words of Bruce Josten, the Chamber?s executive vice president for Government Affairs.
?2012 must not be a wasted year simply because it is an election year. There?s no justifiable reason why it should be,? Donohue said, objecting to the fact that the Senate has not taken up the jobs bills passed by the House, and the fact that a spokesman for President Obama said that the president had only a single legislative item on his agenda for the year ?extending the Social Security payroll tax holiday.
?Real leaders don?t ignore realities. They don?t sweep problems under the rug. They don?t point fingers. They don?t divide us. They seek to unite us,? Donohue said. ?Real leaders wouldn?t wait another day without trying to solve the serious economic and financial challenges facing our country. They wouldn?t tell us that the solutions will have to wait until after the election.?
The Chamber will play a role in those elections, launching ?the most aggressive grassroots mobilization and voter education program in our history.?
The Chamber focuses its energy on ?elections for the Senate, the House, the state supreme court, the state attorney general,? and Donohue said that they ?will have a vigorous program of voter education in all of those areas.?
?We?re a lot stronger than we?ve been before in terms of our grassroots system and ? the extraordinary number of people that we have connected into the Chamber. And we will spend more money than we spent before on the vigorous education efforts, and obviously, it?s going be an interesting time,? Donohue said. When asked specifically, he said they would be ?significantly involved? in the Massachusetts Senate Race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren, and would also play a role in other races.
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