Afghan Presidential Palace on the 11th issued a statement saying U.S. soldiers deliberately shot and killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai expressed the Digital thermometer strongest condemnation, that this is an act of murder.
The statement said: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai, NATO soldiers in Kandahar province early this morning shot and killed civilians in the event that the strongest condemnation of the Afghan government has consistently condemned the NATO military operations that caused civilian casualties, but the U.S. soldiers deliberately killed 16 Afghan civilians is murder. "
The Afghan Defense Ministry issued a statement condemning the incident, "I hope that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as soon as possible to bring the perpetrators to justice.
According to local government officials in Kandahar province, on the 11th morning, a U.S. soldier broke into several houses in a village in the province Jack Pan Wye area near the U.S. military base opened fire to the house of civilians solenoid valve, including women and children The 16 civilians were killed.
The NATO Zhue International Security Assistance Force that morning, said in a statement: "A U.S. soldier was arrested this morning in connection manufacture of civilians shot dead U.S. troops in Afghanistan with the Afghan authorities in Kandahar province and this an investigation into the incident, relevant information will be announced at the appropriate time. "
At the same time, Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on the 11th of this event expressed regret and promised to investigate and severely punish the perpetrators.
Jacobson, the NATO Zhue International Security Assistance Force spokesman, at a news conference, said: is not today's events and protests over the past few weeks with the present situation, with individual behavior we are investigating vibrating screed the motive of the perpetrators. "
Hayden, White House National Security Council spokesman, the same day that the White House is very concerned about the Afghan civilians were shot event, to follow developments.
On Feb. 21, the Afghan national outbreak of large-scale protests, protest the U.S. military at Bagram Air Base to the burning of the Koran, there are two U.S. military advisers and four U.S. soldiers shot during the protests continued to be Afghans.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Sears plans to sell the shop in cash gambling
Sears Holdings moved on Thursday to allay fears that it could run low on cash this year, announcing plans to sell stores in transactions that the company says could raise nearly $800 million.
Sears may be giving up its most profitable stores in exchange for a quick cash infusion today. In one of the transactions, Sears also expects current shareholders to foot the bill, potentially leaving indoor-outdoor thermometer them more exposed to the troubled retailer.
These moves come as the company’s largest investor, its chairman, Edward S. Lampert, has been increasing his personal stake in the company. Mr. Lampert engineered the merger of Kmart and Sears, Roebuck, in a $11 billion deal in late 2004, and his hedge funds now own 61 percent of the stock.
“As a matter of fact, spinoffs like these could leave Sears with a very unprofitable core Sears U.S. business,” said Mary Ross Gilbert, an analyst with Imperial Capital, a brokerage firm.
The price of Sears shares jumped 18.7 percent on Thursday, to $61.80, even as the company reported weak financial results.
Critics say that under Mr. Lampert the company has not spent solenoid valve enough to update its stores and that now, in the face of intense competition, Sears is in danger of permanently falling out of shoppers’ favor.
In a letter to shareholders, Mr. Lampert said: “We made it through the financial crisis and the housing crisis. Now we intend to make it through our current challenges and restore confidence in the company.”
For the year, Sears reported a loss of $3.14 billion, a number that included $2.7 billion of charges, compared with a profit of $133 million for 2010. The fourth quarter had a $2.44 billion loss, compared with a profit of $382 million the previous year.
The company also reported an annual decline in revenue, its fifth in a row. Such trends are a stark reminder that Sears’s problems have deepened since it came under Mr. Lampert’s control.
As Sears’s problems have persisted, all eyes are on its cash flows as concrete vibrating screed investors weigh its chances of survival. The company tacitly acknowledged the attention on its cash on Thursday.
It does not normally hold conference calls to discuss financial results, but Lou D’Ambrosio, Sears’s chief executive, said one of the reasons it did so after the latest earnings release was “to make our funding strategy clear.”
Analysts are also keeping an eye on Sears’s suppliers, as well as the companies, called factors, that make cash advances to the suppliers based on the goods they sell to Sears. If vendors and factors become wary of Sears’s creditworthiness, the retailer may have to pay suppliers cash upfront for goods, which could be a huge drain on liquidity.
“The focus of the call was for the vendors, and steps taken were all focused on near-term cash generation,” said Gary Balter, a retail analyst with Credit Suisse.
Sears said it had $277 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda. But Ms. Ross Gilbert said that excluded $383 million of cash contributions to tomato paste its pensions. Including that would put Ebitda deep in negative territory. And if Sears’s top line continues to decline, the loss could be even deeper this year.
But Sears also has sizable cash sources. It had about $2.5 billion available on two credit lines at the end of January, though the company may draw much of that this fall as it spends large amounts stocking its stores ahead of the holidays.
This is where the property sales announced Thursday become important. If they all occur, and Sears succeeds in cutting costs and slashing inventory, the company could have a sizable cash cushion in the fall. That would bolster confidence and perhaps persuade suppliers not to demand upfront cash payments for their goods.
But the danger is that Sears may be selling some of its best properties, which could mean even worse operating results in the future. On the conference call on Thursday, a Sears executive declined to ac power cord say what proportion of its stores was profitable.
One of the asset sales appears to be in the bag. General Growth Properties, a mall operator, has agreed to buy 11 Sears properties, which will raise $270 million.
However, the other deal — which aims to raise as much as $500 million and is slated for later this year — is less straightforward. In effect, Sears aims to sell its smaller Hometown and Outlet stores to any interested Sears shareholders. The company said Mr. Lampert’s hedge funds expected to participate and exercise their rights in full.
The big question now is how many more of these types of sales Sears could do. More than 120 properties cannot be sold because they are effectively locked in an insurance subsidiary. Others may be harder to sell because metal stamping they are in less attractive malls.
Furthermore, agreements with Sears’s creditors may contain restrictions on assets sales. A Sears spokeswoman said, “The domestic credit agreement contains customary limitations on asset sales.” But she added, “We do not believe our debt agreements place material restrictions on us that would prevent us from taking value-adding actions, such as those announced today.”
Sears may be giving up its most profitable stores in exchange for a quick cash infusion today. In one of the transactions, Sears also expects current shareholders to foot the bill, potentially leaving indoor-outdoor thermometer them more exposed to the troubled retailer.
These moves come as the company’s largest investor, its chairman, Edward S. Lampert, has been increasing his personal stake in the company. Mr. Lampert engineered the merger of Kmart and Sears, Roebuck, in a $11 billion deal in late 2004, and his hedge funds now own 61 percent of the stock.
“As a matter of fact, spinoffs like these could leave Sears with a very unprofitable core Sears U.S. business,” said Mary Ross Gilbert, an analyst with Imperial Capital, a brokerage firm.
The price of Sears shares jumped 18.7 percent on Thursday, to $61.80, even as the company reported weak financial results.
Critics say that under Mr. Lampert the company has not spent solenoid valve enough to update its stores and that now, in the face of intense competition, Sears is in danger of permanently falling out of shoppers’ favor.
In a letter to shareholders, Mr. Lampert said: “We made it through the financial crisis and the housing crisis. Now we intend to make it through our current challenges and restore confidence in the company.”
For the year, Sears reported a loss of $3.14 billion, a number that included $2.7 billion of charges, compared with a profit of $133 million for 2010. The fourth quarter had a $2.44 billion loss, compared with a profit of $382 million the previous year.
The company also reported an annual decline in revenue, its fifth in a row. Such trends are a stark reminder that Sears’s problems have deepened since it came under Mr. Lampert’s control.
As Sears’s problems have persisted, all eyes are on its cash flows as concrete vibrating screed investors weigh its chances of survival. The company tacitly acknowledged the attention on its cash on Thursday.
It does not normally hold conference calls to discuss financial results, but Lou D’Ambrosio, Sears’s chief executive, said one of the reasons it did so after the latest earnings release was “to make our funding strategy clear.”
Analysts are also keeping an eye on Sears’s suppliers, as well as the companies, called factors, that make cash advances to the suppliers based on the goods they sell to Sears. If vendors and factors become wary of Sears’s creditworthiness, the retailer may have to pay suppliers cash upfront for goods, which could be a huge drain on liquidity.
“The focus of the call was for the vendors, and steps taken were all focused on near-term cash generation,” said Gary Balter, a retail analyst with Credit Suisse.
Sears said it had $277 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda. But Ms. Ross Gilbert said that excluded $383 million of cash contributions to tomato paste its pensions. Including that would put Ebitda deep in negative territory. And if Sears’s top line continues to decline, the loss could be even deeper this year.
But Sears also has sizable cash sources. It had about $2.5 billion available on two credit lines at the end of January, though the company may draw much of that this fall as it spends large amounts stocking its stores ahead of the holidays.
This is where the property sales announced Thursday become important. If they all occur, and Sears succeeds in cutting costs and slashing inventory, the company could have a sizable cash cushion in the fall. That would bolster confidence and perhaps persuade suppliers not to demand upfront cash payments for their goods.
But the danger is that Sears may be selling some of its best properties, which could mean even worse operating results in the future. On the conference call on Thursday, a Sears executive declined to ac power cord say what proportion of its stores was profitable.
One of the asset sales appears to be in the bag. General Growth Properties, a mall operator, has agreed to buy 11 Sears properties, which will raise $270 million.
However, the other deal — which aims to raise as much as $500 million and is slated for later this year — is less straightforward. In effect, Sears aims to sell its smaller Hometown and Outlet stores to any interested Sears shareholders. The company said Mr. Lampert’s hedge funds expected to participate and exercise their rights in full.
The big question now is how many more of these types of sales Sears could do. More than 120 properties cannot be sold because they are effectively locked in an insurance subsidiary. Others may be harder to sell because metal stamping they are in less attractive malls.
Furthermore, agreements with Sears’s creditors may contain restrictions on assets sales. A Sears spokeswoman said, “The domestic credit agreement contains customary limitations on asset sales.” But she added, “We do not believe our debt agreements place material restrictions on us that would prevent us from taking value-adding actions, such as those announced today.”
Maryland Senate approved a same-sex marriage bill
The Maryland Senate voted Thursday evening to legalize same-sex marriage, the latest sign of growing national recognition of such unions among gay and lesbian couples.
Six states and the District of Columbia already issue same-sex marriage licenses -- Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. Five states -- Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island -- allow civil unions that sheet metal stamping provide rights similar to marriage.
"All children deserve the opportunity to live in a loving, caring, committed, and stable home, protected equally under the law," O'Malley said in a statement after the vote.
New Jersey lawmakers approved same-sex marriage this month, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the legislation. He has said voters should decide the issue in a statewide referendum.
The flurry of activity is a stark change from two decades ago, when the issue of same-sex marriage first gained national attention. Just a decade ago, no states allowed such unions.
In 1996, when Congress defined marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, 68% of Americans opposed same-sex marriage, with just 27% in favor, according to polling by Gallup. By May 2011, the ac power cord lines had crossed, with 53% of Americans in favor and 45% opposed, according to the organization.
The Maryland vote comes less than two weeks after Washington legislators voted to legalize same-sex marriage. That measure will take effect in the summer if it survives a likely court challenge.
Voters in Minnesota and North Carolina, meanwhile, will consider proposals in November to ban gay marriage in those states. New Hampshire lawmakers may also consider a repeal of its same-sex marriage law, according to the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage. Lawsuits seeking to expand civil unions or turn back laws banning same-sex marriages are working through the courts in at least 12 states, including Hawaii, Minnesota and California, the organization said.
In November, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported a more divided public -- 46% in favor of same-sex marriages and 44% opposed. But Pew also said the tomato paste uptick in support seems to be gaining steam, having jumped 9 percentage points in two years.
"There's no question that with so many Americans having changed their minds and opened their hearts as they've heard the stories of real couples and thought about why marriage matters, we now have tremendous momentum towards ending marriage discrimination," said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, which favors recognizing a right to marriage for gay couples.
Same-sex marriage became a national issue in 1993, after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriages violated the state constitution.
Legislation was introduced recently to allow same-sex marriages in Illinois, and bills from 2011 remain technically active in Hawaii and Minnesota, said Jack Tweedie of the National Council of State Legislatures. It's unclear whether any will see significant action, he said.
An effort is also underway to put a proposal to legalize same-sex concrete vibrating screed marriage on the November ballot in Maine, where voters previously overturned a 2009 state law authorizing same-sex marriage.
In California, meanwhile, a federal appeals court recently ruled against a voter-passed referendum that outlawed same-sex marriage. It said such a ban was unconstitutional and singled out gays and lesbians for discrimination. The case appears to be eventually headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Citing the 31 states in which voters have approved measures defining solenoid valve marriage as a union between a man and a woman, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown said he doesn't believe polls saying that a majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage.
Brown said Democratic legislatures -- not voters -- have been behind most of the recent action on same-sex marriage. Upcoming ballot initiatives will give voters an opportunity to refute the polling, and Brown says they will.
"The reality is that in these 31 states, everywhere we've had a vote, is that voters have said they believe marriage is an institution between a man and a woman," Brown said.
"What you will see is that there will be a vote in states representing all the different regions of this country and people are going to have the chance to say, Digital thermometer emphatically, 'No'," Brown said.
Six states and the District of Columbia already issue same-sex marriage licenses -- Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. Five states -- Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island -- allow civil unions that sheet metal stamping provide rights similar to marriage.
"All children deserve the opportunity to live in a loving, caring, committed, and stable home, protected equally under the law," O'Malley said in a statement after the vote.
New Jersey lawmakers approved same-sex marriage this month, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the legislation. He has said voters should decide the issue in a statewide referendum.
The flurry of activity is a stark change from two decades ago, when the issue of same-sex marriage first gained national attention. Just a decade ago, no states allowed such unions.
In 1996, when Congress defined marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, 68% of Americans opposed same-sex marriage, with just 27% in favor, according to polling by Gallup. By May 2011, the ac power cord lines had crossed, with 53% of Americans in favor and 45% opposed, according to the organization.
The Maryland vote comes less than two weeks after Washington legislators voted to legalize same-sex marriage. That measure will take effect in the summer if it survives a likely court challenge.
Voters in Minnesota and North Carolina, meanwhile, will consider proposals in November to ban gay marriage in those states. New Hampshire lawmakers may also consider a repeal of its same-sex marriage law, according to the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage. Lawsuits seeking to expand civil unions or turn back laws banning same-sex marriages are working through the courts in at least 12 states, including Hawaii, Minnesota and California, the organization said.
In November, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported a more divided public -- 46% in favor of same-sex marriages and 44% opposed. But Pew also said the tomato paste uptick in support seems to be gaining steam, having jumped 9 percentage points in two years.
"There's no question that with so many Americans having changed their minds and opened their hearts as they've heard the stories of real couples and thought about why marriage matters, we now have tremendous momentum towards ending marriage discrimination," said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, which favors recognizing a right to marriage for gay couples.
Same-sex marriage became a national issue in 1993, after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriages violated the state constitution.
Legislation was introduced recently to allow same-sex marriages in Illinois, and bills from 2011 remain technically active in Hawaii and Minnesota, said Jack Tweedie of the National Council of State Legislatures. It's unclear whether any will see significant action, he said.
An effort is also underway to put a proposal to legalize same-sex concrete vibrating screed marriage on the November ballot in Maine, where voters previously overturned a 2009 state law authorizing same-sex marriage.
In California, meanwhile, a federal appeals court recently ruled against a voter-passed referendum that outlawed same-sex marriage. It said such a ban was unconstitutional and singled out gays and lesbians for discrimination. The case appears to be eventually headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Citing the 31 states in which voters have approved measures defining solenoid valve marriage as a union between a man and a woman, National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown said he doesn't believe polls saying that a majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage.
Brown said Democratic legislatures -- not voters -- have been behind most of the recent action on same-sex marriage. Upcoming ballot initiatives will give voters an opportunity to refute the polling, and Brown says they will.
"The reality is that in these 31 states, everywhere we've had a vote, is that voters have said they believe marriage is an institution between a man and a woman," Brown said.
"What you will see is that there will be a vote in states representing all the different regions of this country and people are going to have the chance to say, Digital thermometer emphatically, 'No'," Brown said.
Putin to arouse Russia's enemy in a campaign speech
In a short but fiery presidential campaign speech, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday called on voters to prepare for battle to protect the country's future.
Putin, who presents himself as a defender of Russia, has about 50% support nationwide and is expected to win his third presidential term in the March 4 election, in part because there are no strong opponents on the indoor-outdoor thermometer ballot. Large antigovernment protests have been held recently in response to parliamentary elections won by Putin's party that many considered damaged by fraud.
In his speech Thursday, Putin did not specify who or what Russia would face in battle, though he has described protest leaders as agents of the West. He spoke of the 1812 battle of Borodino and quoted from a school curriculum poem by Mikhail Lermontov: "'Let's die near Moscow like our brothers!' And to die we promised and the oath of loyalty we kept."
"We won't allow anybody to interfere with our internal affairs and we won't allow anybody to impose his will on us because we have a will of our own!" Putin told the crowd, largely made up of government workers brought near the Luzhniki soccer stadium in chartered buses. "The battle of Russia is continuing! Victory will be ours!"
Some in the crowd praised the prime minister and former president and carried signs with slogans such as "Putin Is Our President" or "Putin Is the Best," while others showed little enthusiasm, at times hesitating to say why they were solenoid valve attending a pro-Putin rally. Some said they were reminded of the Soviet era, when national holidays meant every enterprise and organization was ordered to provide a certain number of people equipped with paper flowers, balloons, banners and posters of leaders.
Government opponents and foreign influences are threatening to weaken Russia, Putin told tens of thousands of people at a rally in Moscow held on Defender of the Fatherland Day, a national holiday known as Red Army Day during the Soviet era.
The rally participants marched through the winter sludge before entering the soccer stadium. Men with harmonicas mixed with the crowd, playing popular songs.
Svetlana Petrova, a social worker from a Moscow suburb, said she was not ordered to attend the vibrating screed rally. "No, I volunteered!" she said, giggling. Her colleagues laughed.
One young municipal worker from Zelenograd, an industrial town northwest of Moscow, who gave his name only as Nikolai, said he and his fellow workers were offered an extra day off to compensate for the time they spent demonstrating for Putin.
Yevgeny Krasilich, an engineer from Mosgortrans, a Moscow city-owned company in charge of municipal transportation, said that under Putin his salary was constantly growing and that he had bought an apartment, a tomato paste dacha and a car. Krasilich, a father of two and grandfather of three, said his company brought at least 5,000 members of its 30,000-person workforce to the rally.
"I am happy with everything and I want my life to go on the same way," Krasilich said. "Putin is our only hope and guarantee!"
Alexei Stebennikov, who is unemployed, said Putin is a great talker and that he doesn't drink or smoke and thus sets a good example for youths.
In front of them were Cossacks dressed in trench coats and mutton fur hats and a big group of middle-aged men and women representing the Industrial Wastes company. They were drinking hot tea from plastic glasses and carrying portraits of a very youngish-looking Putin.
Boris Dubin, a senior researcher with the independent Levada Center polling organization, said Putin's approach Thursday stemmed from the protests after the December parliamentary elections and showed the ac power cord authoritarian leader's increasing reliance on the rhetoric of confrontation and war.
Denis Grishin, a municipal worker from central Moscow who said he was enlisted by the administration to come to the rally after his night shift, was holding a banner which read in English: "In Putin we trust." Grishin said he didn't know the meaning of the banner, which was handed to him by one of the organizers, and did not want to vote for Putin.
"The recent mass public protests … demonstrated that Putin's positions are no longer as reliable as they used to be and this victory will not be accepted by many," Dubin said. "Putin is flexing his war sheet metal stamping muscles today to a crowd which doesn't want war and which doesn't see any danger to the country and they don't fall for such rhetoric."
Putin, who presents himself as a defender of Russia, has about 50% support nationwide and is expected to win his third presidential term in the March 4 election, in part because there are no strong opponents on the indoor-outdoor thermometer ballot. Large antigovernment protests have been held recently in response to parliamentary elections won by Putin's party that many considered damaged by fraud.
In his speech Thursday, Putin did not specify who or what Russia would face in battle, though he has described protest leaders as agents of the West. He spoke of the 1812 battle of Borodino and quoted from a school curriculum poem by Mikhail Lermontov: "'Let's die near Moscow like our brothers!' And to die we promised and the oath of loyalty we kept."
"We won't allow anybody to interfere with our internal affairs and we won't allow anybody to impose his will on us because we have a will of our own!" Putin told the crowd, largely made up of government workers brought near the Luzhniki soccer stadium in chartered buses. "The battle of Russia is continuing! Victory will be ours!"
Some in the crowd praised the prime minister and former president and carried signs with slogans such as "Putin Is Our President" or "Putin Is the Best," while others showed little enthusiasm, at times hesitating to say why they were solenoid valve attending a pro-Putin rally. Some said they were reminded of the Soviet era, when national holidays meant every enterprise and organization was ordered to provide a certain number of people equipped with paper flowers, balloons, banners and posters of leaders.
Government opponents and foreign influences are threatening to weaken Russia, Putin told tens of thousands of people at a rally in Moscow held on Defender of the Fatherland Day, a national holiday known as Red Army Day during the Soviet era.
The rally participants marched through the winter sludge before entering the soccer stadium. Men with harmonicas mixed with the crowd, playing popular songs.
Svetlana Petrova, a social worker from a Moscow suburb, said she was not ordered to attend the vibrating screed rally. "No, I volunteered!" she said, giggling. Her colleagues laughed.
One young municipal worker from Zelenograd, an industrial town northwest of Moscow, who gave his name only as Nikolai, said he and his fellow workers were offered an extra day off to compensate for the time they spent demonstrating for Putin.
Yevgeny Krasilich, an engineer from Mosgortrans, a Moscow city-owned company in charge of municipal transportation, said that under Putin his salary was constantly growing and that he had bought an apartment, a tomato paste dacha and a car. Krasilich, a father of two and grandfather of three, said his company brought at least 5,000 members of its 30,000-person workforce to the rally.
"I am happy with everything and I want my life to go on the same way," Krasilich said. "Putin is our only hope and guarantee!"
Alexei Stebennikov, who is unemployed, said Putin is a great talker and that he doesn't drink or smoke and thus sets a good example for youths.
In front of them were Cossacks dressed in trench coats and mutton fur hats and a big group of middle-aged men and women representing the Industrial Wastes company. They were drinking hot tea from plastic glasses and carrying portraits of a very youngish-looking Putin.
Boris Dubin, a senior researcher with the independent Levada Center polling organization, said Putin's approach Thursday stemmed from the protests after the December parliamentary elections and showed the ac power cord authoritarian leader's increasing reliance on the rhetoric of confrontation and war.
Denis Grishin, a municipal worker from central Moscow who said he was enlisted by the administration to come to the rally after his night shift, was holding a banner which read in English: "In Putin we trust." Grishin said he didn't know the meaning of the banner, which was handed to him by one of the organizers, and did not want to vote for Putin.
"The recent mass public protests … demonstrated that Putin's positions are no longer as reliable as they used to be and this victory will not be accepted by many," Dubin said. "Putin is flexing his war sheet metal stamping muscles today to a crowd which doesn't want war and which doesn't see any danger to the country and they don't fall for such rhetoric."
Monday, February 20, 2012
The national debt higher than the expected $ 1 trillion in 10 years
President Obama rolled out an election-year budget on Monday that would delay action to reduce the national debt in favor of fresh spending on Democratic priorities aimed at rebuilding the American middle class.
In his final budget request before facing voters in November, Obama called for $350?billion in new stimulus to maintain lower payroll taxes, bolster domestic manufacturing, lure jobs back indoor-outdoor thermometer from overseas, hire teachers, retrain workers and fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. There would be only modest trims to federal health programs and no changes to Social Security, the biggest drivers of future borrowing, despite last year’s raucous political debate over the federal debt.
Federal agency budgets would be face limits agreed to during last year’s budget battles, forcing belt-tightening at the Pentagon and the lowest spending on domestic agencies as a percentage of the economy in at least a decade.
Obama said his proposal would save at least $4?trillion over the next 10 years and stabilize government borrowing. But Republicans blasted the budget as insufficient, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) deriding it as “a campaign document.”
Instead, Obama would reduce deficits by raising taxes by nearly $2?trillion over the next decade on corporations and the wealthy, in part by letting expire George W. Bush-era tax cuts on household income over $250,000 a year. And the president is encouraging lawmakers to rewrite the tax code to remove the alternative minimum tax for middle-class solenoid valve families and require millionaires to pay at least 30?percent of their annual income to the Internal Revenue Service.
Despite the savings, budget deficits would be markedly higher than they would under a debt-reduction plan Obama submitted to Congress in September, staying well above $600?billion a year for most of the next decade. The portion of the debt held by outside investors would climb to $18.7?trillion by 2021, or 76.5 percent of the overall economy — twice the size of the debt before the recession hit in 2007 and $1?trillion higher than the president’s September forecast.
Administration officials blamed that increase in large part on gloomier economic projections, which tend to depress tax collections, increase government spending and drive up deficits. Since the budget was prepared, job growth has proved stronger than expected, officials said, adding that the picture would look brighter today.
But White House economic adviser Gene Sperling acknowledged that the administration added “our aspirations” to the $3.8?trillion request for fiscal 2013. New initiatives would increase 10-year deficit concrete vibrating screed projections by about $350?billion. They include an extra $125?billion for road and rail projects, as well permanently extending tax breaks that provide families up to $10,000 for college tuition and reward businesses for conducting research in the United States.
In an unusually partisan budget message to Congress, Obama wrote that “reining in our deficits is not an end in itself” but “a necessary step to rebuilding a strong foundation so our economy can grow and create good jobs.” Drawing a sharp contrast with his Republican opponents, Obama said his approach “rejects the ‘you’re on your own’ economics that have led to a widening gap between the richest and poorest Americans.”
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Obama’s plan “an insult to the American taxpayer” that would not take “meaningful steps tomato paste toward solving our entitlement crisis.”
The budget marks the second year in a row Obama has ignored calls to restructure Social Security and Medicare, the nation’s major entitlement programs. Last year, he declined to endorse the recommendations of a bipartisan fiscal commission he appointed to develop a electric winch debt-reduction strategy. He and other Democrats have refused to consider deep cuts to benefits unless Republicans reevaluate their stand against higher taxes.
“Today, we are seeing signs that our economy is on the mend. But we are not out of the woods yet. Instead, we are facing a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get there,” Obama wrote. “This is the defining issue of our time.”
Republicans charged that the president had met his debt-reduction goals with tax increases and accounting gimmicks while ignoring the massive cost increases that are looming on the horizon as the nation’s population ages.
“Instead of an America built to last, this is a plan for an America drowning in debt,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (Wis.) told reporters. “All we’re getting is more gas thermocouple spending, more borrowing.”
Administration officials noted that the changes would increase projected savings significantly compared with the 2012 budget request, which offered $1?trillion less in 10-year deficit reduction.
“This is a Democratic budget that has savings in Medicaid. It has some savings from new beneficiaries in Medicare in 2017,” Sperling told reporters. “It has a lot of very tough choices.”
Some independent budget analysts applauded the White House for sticking to its previous goal of slicing $4?trillion from future borrowing. But others expressed disappointment power supply cord that the White House didn’t move the conversation forward.
The budget released Monday would trim spending on federal health-care programs by about $360?billion over the next decade, primarily by reducing payments to drug companies and other providers. Starting in 2017, Obama also proposes to raise Medicare premiums for new retirees and seniors with higher incomes, start charging co-payments for home health-care services, and penalize patients who buy Medigap policies to take care of Medicare co-payments and deductibles.
“Their plan isn’t actually big enough yet to fix the problem,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “It has a lot of good components. But they haven’t done enough to make sure that plan becomes the beginning of a national discussion so that we actually get the job done.”
In a preemptive attack issued hours before the budget was made public, Romney signaled that overhauling entitlement sheet metal stamping programs would be a key issue in November if he wins the GOP nomination. He has called for far-reaching changes to Social Security and Medicare that would transform the retirement landscape for future retirees by raising the Social Security eligibility age, reducing checks for higher-income seniors and replacing the open-ended Medicare entitlement with limited federal payments that could be used to buy private insurance.
In his final budget request before facing voters in November, Obama called for $350?billion in new stimulus to maintain lower payroll taxes, bolster domestic manufacturing, lure jobs back indoor-outdoor thermometer from overseas, hire teachers, retrain workers and fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. There would be only modest trims to federal health programs and no changes to Social Security, the biggest drivers of future borrowing, despite last year’s raucous political debate over the federal debt.
Federal agency budgets would be face limits agreed to during last year’s budget battles, forcing belt-tightening at the Pentagon and the lowest spending on domestic agencies as a percentage of the economy in at least a decade.
Obama said his proposal would save at least $4?trillion over the next 10 years and stabilize government borrowing. But Republicans blasted the budget as insufficient, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) deriding it as “a campaign document.”
Instead, Obama would reduce deficits by raising taxes by nearly $2?trillion over the next decade on corporations and the wealthy, in part by letting expire George W. Bush-era tax cuts on household income over $250,000 a year. And the president is encouraging lawmakers to rewrite the tax code to remove the alternative minimum tax for middle-class solenoid valve families and require millionaires to pay at least 30?percent of their annual income to the Internal Revenue Service.
Despite the savings, budget deficits would be markedly higher than they would under a debt-reduction plan Obama submitted to Congress in September, staying well above $600?billion a year for most of the next decade. The portion of the debt held by outside investors would climb to $18.7?trillion by 2021, or 76.5 percent of the overall economy — twice the size of the debt before the recession hit in 2007 and $1?trillion higher than the president’s September forecast.
Administration officials blamed that increase in large part on gloomier economic projections, which tend to depress tax collections, increase government spending and drive up deficits. Since the budget was prepared, job growth has proved stronger than expected, officials said, adding that the picture would look brighter today.
But White House economic adviser Gene Sperling acknowledged that the administration added “our aspirations” to the $3.8?trillion request for fiscal 2013. New initiatives would increase 10-year deficit concrete vibrating screed projections by about $350?billion. They include an extra $125?billion for road and rail projects, as well permanently extending tax breaks that provide families up to $10,000 for college tuition and reward businesses for conducting research in the United States.
In an unusually partisan budget message to Congress, Obama wrote that “reining in our deficits is not an end in itself” but “a necessary step to rebuilding a strong foundation so our economy can grow and create good jobs.” Drawing a sharp contrast with his Republican opponents, Obama said his approach “rejects the ‘you’re on your own’ economics that have led to a widening gap between the richest and poorest Americans.”
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Obama’s plan “an insult to the American taxpayer” that would not take “meaningful steps tomato paste toward solving our entitlement crisis.”
The budget marks the second year in a row Obama has ignored calls to restructure Social Security and Medicare, the nation’s major entitlement programs. Last year, he declined to endorse the recommendations of a bipartisan fiscal commission he appointed to develop a electric winch debt-reduction strategy. He and other Democrats have refused to consider deep cuts to benefits unless Republicans reevaluate their stand against higher taxes.
“Today, we are seeing signs that our economy is on the mend. But we are not out of the woods yet. Instead, we are facing a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get there,” Obama wrote. “This is the defining issue of our time.”
Republicans charged that the president had met his debt-reduction goals with tax increases and accounting gimmicks while ignoring the massive cost increases that are looming on the horizon as the nation’s population ages.
“Instead of an America built to last, this is a plan for an America drowning in debt,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (Wis.) told reporters. “All we’re getting is more gas thermocouple spending, more borrowing.”
Administration officials noted that the changes would increase projected savings significantly compared with the 2012 budget request, which offered $1?trillion less in 10-year deficit reduction.
“This is a Democratic budget that has savings in Medicaid. It has some savings from new beneficiaries in Medicare in 2017,” Sperling told reporters. “It has a lot of very tough choices.”
Some independent budget analysts applauded the White House for sticking to its previous goal of slicing $4?trillion from future borrowing. But others expressed disappointment power supply cord that the White House didn’t move the conversation forward.
The budget released Monday would trim spending on federal health-care programs by about $360?billion over the next decade, primarily by reducing payments to drug companies and other providers. Starting in 2017, Obama also proposes to raise Medicare premiums for new retirees and seniors with higher incomes, start charging co-payments for home health-care services, and penalize patients who buy Medigap policies to take care of Medicare co-payments and deductibles.
“Their plan isn’t actually big enough yet to fix the problem,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “It has a lot of good components. But they haven’t done enough to make sure that plan becomes the beginning of a national discussion so that we actually get the job done.”
In a preemptive attack issued hours before the budget was made public, Romney signaled that overhauling entitlement sheet metal stamping programs would be a key issue in November if he wins the GOP nomination. He has called for far-reaching changes to Social Security and Medicare that would transform the retirement landscape for future retirees by raising the Social Security eligibility age, reducing checks for higher-income seniors and replacing the open-ended Medicare entitlement with limited federal payments that could be used to buy private insurance.
New York Nightclub Brawl Sends Monaco Prince to the Hospital
A brawl at a Manhattan nightclub over the weekend ended with Monaco's Prince Pierre Casiraghi in the hospital and a New York man facing assault charges.
The incident occurred around 2 a.m. Saturday at the Double Seven Nightclub, when according to indoor-outdoor thermometer police 24-year-old Casiraghi, the grandson of Grace Kelly, got into a confrontation with 47-year-old Adam Hock, a former nightclub owner.
Casiraghi reportedly approached Hock, leading to a physical confrontation. Hock, who according to the New York Post was sitting with friends including supermodels Natasha Poly, Valentina Zalyaeva and Anja Rubik, allegedly punched Casigraghi and three friends who came to his aid.
"Pierre's face looked broken, with deep cuts and blood everywhere," a witness told the New York Post. "He looked like he solenoid valve needed plastic surgery."
Hock was arrested and charged with four counts of third-degree assault.
Hock's lawyer, Sal Strazzullo, said his client acted in self defense and was trying to protect the people he was sitting with.
"The complaint speaks for itself, when it comes to four men allegedly saying that my client was the vibrating screed attacker," Strazzullo told ABCNews.com. "It was four men against one."
Aaron Richard Golub, who is representing the Casiraghi and his friends, disputes the idea that Hock was protecting his friends.
"This incident was tomato paste entirely unprovoked," Golub told ABCNews.com. "It was a one sided incident [and] not from my client's side."
According to Golub, Casiraghi was treated for his injuries at a New York hospital over the weekend and then released.
The incident occurred around 2 a.m. Saturday at the Double Seven Nightclub, when according to indoor-outdoor thermometer police 24-year-old Casiraghi, the grandson of Grace Kelly, got into a confrontation with 47-year-old Adam Hock, a former nightclub owner.
Casiraghi reportedly approached Hock, leading to a physical confrontation. Hock, who according to the New York Post was sitting with friends including supermodels Natasha Poly, Valentina Zalyaeva and Anja Rubik, allegedly punched Casigraghi and three friends who came to his aid.
"Pierre's face looked broken, with deep cuts and blood everywhere," a witness told the New York Post. "He looked like he solenoid valve needed plastic surgery."
Hock was arrested and charged with four counts of third-degree assault.
Hock's lawyer, Sal Strazzullo, said his client acted in self defense and was trying to protect the people he was sitting with.
"The complaint speaks for itself, when it comes to four men allegedly saying that my client was the vibrating screed attacker," Strazzullo told ABCNews.com. "It was four men against one."
Aaron Richard Golub, who is representing the Casiraghi and his friends, disputes the idea that Hock was protecting his friends.
"This incident was tomato paste entirely unprovoked," Golub told ABCNews.com. "It was a one sided incident [and] not from my client's side."
According to Golub, Casiraghi was treated for his injuries at a New York hospital over the weekend and then released.
Spain sending military planes to retrieve treasure
Spain said Monday it will soon send hulking military transport planes to Florida to retrieve 17 tons of treasure that U.S. undersea explorers found but ultimately lost in American courts, a find experts have electric winch speculated could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history.
The Civil Guard said agents would leave within hours to take possession of the booty, worth an estimated euro380 million ($504 million), and two Spanish Hercules transport planes will bring it back. But it was not exactly clear when — Monday or Tuesday — the planes and the agents would leave Spain.
Last week, a federal judge ordered Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration to give Spanish officials access to the silver coins and other artifacts beginning Tuesday.
Odyssey found them in a Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, in 2007 off Portugal. Spain argued successfully in court that it never relinquished ownership of the ship or its contents.
The Spanish Culture Ministry said Monday the coins are classified as national heritage ac power cord and as such must stay inside the country and will be displayed in one or more Spanish museums. It ruled out the idea of the treasure being sold to ease Spain's national debt.
Besides its debt woes, Spain is saddled with a nearly dormant economy and a 23 percent jobless rate.
Odyssey made an international splash in 2007 when it recovered the 594,000 coins and other artifacts from the Atlantic Ocean near the Straits of Gilbraltar. At the time, experts said the coins could be worth as much as $500 million to collectors, which would have made it the richest shipwreck treasure in history.
The company said in earnings statements that it has spent $2.6 million salvaging, transporting, sheet metal stamping storing and conserving the treasure.
Odyssey fought Spain's claim to the treasure, arguing that the wreck was never positively identified as the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. And if it was that vessel, then the ship was on a commercial trade trip — not a sovereign mission — at the time it sank, meaning Spain would have no firm claim to the cargo, Odyssey argued. International treaties generally hold that warships sunk in battle are protected from treasure seekers.
The Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was sunk by British warships in the Atlantic while sailing digital thermometer back from South America with more than 200 people on board.
The Civil Guard said agents would leave within hours to take possession of the booty, worth an estimated euro380 million ($504 million), and two Spanish Hercules transport planes will bring it back. But it was not exactly clear when — Monday or Tuesday — the planes and the agents would leave Spain.
Last week, a federal judge ordered Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration to give Spanish officials access to the silver coins and other artifacts beginning Tuesday.
Odyssey found them in a Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, in 2007 off Portugal. Spain argued successfully in court that it never relinquished ownership of the ship or its contents.
The Spanish Culture Ministry said Monday the coins are classified as national heritage ac power cord and as such must stay inside the country and will be displayed in one or more Spanish museums. It ruled out the idea of the treasure being sold to ease Spain's national debt.
Besides its debt woes, Spain is saddled with a nearly dormant economy and a 23 percent jobless rate.
Odyssey made an international splash in 2007 when it recovered the 594,000 coins and other artifacts from the Atlantic Ocean near the Straits of Gilbraltar. At the time, experts said the coins could be worth as much as $500 million to collectors, which would have made it the richest shipwreck treasure in history.
The company said in earnings statements that it has spent $2.6 million salvaging, transporting, sheet metal stamping storing and conserving the treasure.
Odyssey fought Spain's claim to the treasure, arguing that the wreck was never positively identified as the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. And if it was that vessel, then the ship was on a commercial trade trip — not a sovereign mission — at the time it sank, meaning Spain would have no firm claim to the cargo, Odyssey argued. International treaties generally hold that warships sunk in battle are protected from treasure seekers.
The Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was sunk by British warships in the Atlantic while sailing digital thermometer back from South America with more than 200 people on board.
Election hinges on New Hampshire, where Obama has 59.4 percent chance of victory
As though New Hampshire wasn't already overprivileged enough in the broken primary system, the state may be the one to tip the scales in the general election to solenoid valve either party. According to The Signal's elections model, which orders the states from most to least likely to go to the Republican candidate, a GOP win in New Hampshire gives the challenger 270 votes to Obama's 268. If the president wins, he carries the election with 272 votes to his opponent's 266.
Our model, which I developed with Yahoo Labs economist Patrick Hummel by analyzing data from the past 10 elections, gives Obama a 59.4 percent likelihood of winning in the Granite State. This number is slightly higher than our prediction in our first post about our equations last week because the Real Clear Politics average of presidential approval polls has increased from 48 to 49 percent. The most likely outcome is still that Obama will win by 303 votes, carrying Ohio and Virginia as well as New Hampshire. As we noted before, however, elections are just as subject to chance as football games, and if the tomato paste contest were held 100 times, we'd expect the Republican to win about forty times.
What if Obama wins Ohio but loses New Hampshire? The math is easy enough to tally, but in fact this is something our model does not allow. That is because prominent research on presidential models demonstrates that the most efficient way to predict state outcomes is to rank them in the order that they fall from one candidate to the other, rather than consider them as 50 independent contests. Since Virginia is more likely to vote Republican than either Ohio or New Hampshire, for example, if it votes Democratic then we assume the other two did as well.
Of course, in reality the states do not line up like dominos. Instead, they are independent elections in which we can draw correlations from regional or ideological ties that lead some states to move in tandem. While it's very difficult to imagine scenario where the Republican wins Delaware, a reliably Democratic state, and loses Oklahoma, a staunch conservative bastion, we can easily imagine the electric winch dice falling in a way that gives Virginia to the Democrats while Ohio and New Hampshire go Republican. More work needs to be done to identify all these relationship with any precision, as the noted paper makes clear. We'll be launching a predictions game at The Signal later this year that we hope will help produce this data.
We should note that, while this model does not use prediction market data--that seems like cheating--its prediction of a 59.4 percent likelihood of an Obama victory is nearly exactly where the spread currently sits. And of course, there is still a lot of campaign left. If we had had this model ready to publish just a few weeks ago, it would ac power cord have pointed toward a more likely Republican victory, as Obama's job approval ratings were significantly lower. While the model currently predicts a second term for the president, his position is precarious. Drop his approval rating three percentage points, to 46 percent, and New Hampshire flips columns and the Republican wins 52.9 percent of the time.
Our model, which I developed with Yahoo Labs economist Patrick Hummel by analyzing data from the past 10 elections, gives Obama a 59.4 percent likelihood of winning in the Granite State. This number is slightly higher than our prediction in our first post about our equations last week because the Real Clear Politics average of presidential approval polls has increased from 48 to 49 percent. The most likely outcome is still that Obama will win by 303 votes, carrying Ohio and Virginia as well as New Hampshire. As we noted before, however, elections are just as subject to chance as football games, and if the tomato paste contest were held 100 times, we'd expect the Republican to win about forty times.
What if Obama wins Ohio but loses New Hampshire? The math is easy enough to tally, but in fact this is something our model does not allow. That is because prominent research on presidential models demonstrates that the most efficient way to predict state outcomes is to rank them in the order that they fall from one candidate to the other, rather than consider them as 50 independent contests. Since Virginia is more likely to vote Republican than either Ohio or New Hampshire, for example, if it votes Democratic then we assume the other two did as well.
Of course, in reality the states do not line up like dominos. Instead, they are independent elections in which we can draw correlations from regional or ideological ties that lead some states to move in tandem. While it's very difficult to imagine scenario where the Republican wins Delaware, a reliably Democratic state, and loses Oklahoma, a staunch conservative bastion, we can easily imagine the electric winch dice falling in a way that gives Virginia to the Democrats while Ohio and New Hampshire go Republican. More work needs to be done to identify all these relationship with any precision, as the noted paper makes clear. We'll be launching a predictions game at The Signal later this year that we hope will help produce this data.
We should note that, while this model does not use prediction market data--that seems like cheating--its prediction of a 59.4 percent likelihood of an Obama victory is nearly exactly where the spread currently sits. And of course, there is still a lot of campaign left. If we had had this model ready to publish just a few weeks ago, it would ac power cord have pointed toward a more likely Republican victory, as Obama's job approval ratings were significantly lower. While the model currently predicts a second term for the president, his position is precarious. Drop his approval rating three percentage points, to 46 percent, and New Hampshire flips columns and the Republican wins 52.9 percent of the time.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Paul McCartney received his star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame
He brought several Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member pals along for the ride, including Neil Young, who gave McCartney a cheery introduction, Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh and power supply cord pop music power couple Elvis Costello and Diana Krall. Jazz great Herbie Hancock was there as well as musician-producer Don Was and former Electric Light Orchestra leader/Traveling Wilburys member Jeff Lynne. McCartney's wife, Nancy, and son, James, also attended the ceremony.
"I'm so proud to be doing this," he added. "As a musician, as a songwriter, Paul's craft and his art are truly at the top of his game, the way Charlie Chaplin was an actor. He has an ability to put melodies and feelings and chords together, but it's the soul that he puts into everything he does that makes me feel so good and so happy to be here."
Although Starr, the only other surviving Beatle, lives in Southern California, McCartney said, "Ringo's a little under the weather, so he's not here." The comment drew sighs of disappointment from onlookers.
"Let me tell you a little bit about our friend Paul here just as a musician," said Young, wearing a black gas thermocouple leather Buffalo Springfield tour jacket. "When I was in high school and the Beatles came out, I loved the Beatles and I tried to learn how to play like them, and no one could figure out what Paul was doing on the bass. Not only was he playing differently because he plays left-handed, he played notes that no one had put together before -- in a way that made us stand in awe of this great musician."
"When I was growing up in Liverpool and listening to Buddy Holly and the other rock 'n' roll greats, I never thought I'd ever come to get a star on the Walk of Fame," said McCartney, 69 -- a sentiment probably shared by members of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who had been after him to accept the award ever since it was approved for him in 1993. "But here we are today," he said.
Many fans who showed up in Hollywood brought various bits of memorabilia in hopes of snagging an autograph: One teenage girl had a worn LP copy of his first solo album, 1970's "McCartney." Others leaned across metal electric winch police barricades with copies of "A Hard Day's Night," "Beatles for Sale," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," books, photos and a plethora of other items.
"Today," not coincidentally, was the 48th anniversary of the Beatles' game-changing U.S. television debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show." The ceremony also came synergistically just two days after the release of McCartney's latest album, "Kisses on the Bottom," a collection of mostly pre-rock pop songs he loved as a child, supplemented by two originals.
Always the Beatle most attuned to business matters, he closed his succinct speech by telling fans and others "around the world that I send you all hugs and kisses on the bottom."
It's a particularly busy week for McCartney: After the star ceremony, he was slated to do a live performance in one of Capitol's recording studios to be streamed live at 7 tonight on iTunes and Apple TV. On Friday, he's the guest of honor at the Recording Academy's annual MusiCares Person of the Year all-star tribute gala and fundraiser. And Sunday, he's on tomato paste tap to perform during the Grammy Awards telecast.
Only one succeeded: On his way back into the Capitol building, McCartney spotted Fullerton 18-year-old Paul Madariaga holding up a Hofner bass guitar like the one McCartney first popularized nearly half a century ago when he was just out of his teens. McCartney gave a nod and the instrument was handed to him. The world’s most famous bassist hoisted it aloft, as he often does at the end of his concerts, scribbled his name across the front with a hastily solenoid valve supplied Sharpie and passed it back to Madariaga.
"I'm so proud to be doing this," he added. "As a musician, as a songwriter, Paul's craft and his art are truly at the top of his game, the way Charlie Chaplin was an actor. He has an ability to put melodies and feelings and chords together, but it's the soul that he puts into everything he does that makes me feel so good and so happy to be here."
Although Starr, the only other surviving Beatle, lives in Southern California, McCartney said, "Ringo's a little under the weather, so he's not here." The comment drew sighs of disappointment from onlookers.
"Let me tell you a little bit about our friend Paul here just as a musician," said Young, wearing a black gas thermocouple leather Buffalo Springfield tour jacket. "When I was in high school and the Beatles came out, I loved the Beatles and I tried to learn how to play like them, and no one could figure out what Paul was doing on the bass. Not only was he playing differently because he plays left-handed, he played notes that no one had put together before -- in a way that made us stand in awe of this great musician."
"When I was growing up in Liverpool and listening to Buddy Holly and the other rock 'n' roll greats, I never thought I'd ever come to get a star on the Walk of Fame," said McCartney, 69 -- a sentiment probably shared by members of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who had been after him to accept the award ever since it was approved for him in 1993. "But here we are today," he said.
Many fans who showed up in Hollywood brought various bits of memorabilia in hopes of snagging an autograph: One teenage girl had a worn LP copy of his first solo album, 1970's "McCartney." Others leaned across metal electric winch police barricades with copies of "A Hard Day's Night," "Beatles for Sale," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," books, photos and a plethora of other items.
"Today," not coincidentally, was the 48th anniversary of the Beatles' game-changing U.S. television debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show." The ceremony also came synergistically just two days after the release of McCartney's latest album, "Kisses on the Bottom," a collection of mostly pre-rock pop songs he loved as a child, supplemented by two originals.
Always the Beatle most attuned to business matters, he closed his succinct speech by telling fans and others "around the world that I send you all hugs and kisses on the bottom."
It's a particularly busy week for McCartney: After the star ceremony, he was slated to do a live performance in one of Capitol's recording studios to be streamed live at 7 tonight on iTunes and Apple TV. On Friday, he's the guest of honor at the Recording Academy's annual MusiCares Person of the Year all-star tribute gala and fundraiser. And Sunday, he's on tomato paste tap to perform during the Grammy Awards telecast.
Only one succeeded: On his way back into the Capitol building, McCartney spotted Fullerton 18-year-old Paul Madariaga holding up a Hofner bass guitar like the one McCartney first popularized nearly half a century ago when he was just out of his teens. McCartney gave a nod and the instrument was handed to him. The world’s most famous bassist hoisted it aloft, as he often does at the end of his concerts, scribbled his name across the front with a hastily solenoid valve supplied Sharpie and passed it back to Madariaga.
Romney's negative ads could cost him voters
Santorum's lament has already been sung — with encores — by former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who has twice been on the receiving end of millions of dollars of attack indoor-outdoor thermometer advertising from Romney and his supporters. Now, however, it's not just Romney's rivals who are saying Romney is all negative, all the time. As he trains his sights on Santorum, he faces increasing complaints that his focus on rubbishing his opponents, successfully, is coming at the expense of a compelling message and his own appeal to voters.
The Romney campaign began pointing the dagger at Santorum immediately after an embarrassing loss in three state contests Tuesday, when Romney began tagging Santorum as a Republican who had helped the party "lose its way" by "spending too much, borrowing too much, and earmarking too much." Santorum and Gingrich "are the very Republicans who acted like Democrats" when it came to spending in Congress, he said.
Romney has been taken to task by The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which said he "isn't winning friends with his relentlessly negative campaign" and "needs … to make a better, positive case for his candidacy beyond his business résumé."
"This week's results show that Romney has convinced conservatives that he can convince them that someone else is a solenoid valve bad choice," says Dan Schnur, who headed John McCain's 2000 campaign and is now director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. "But he hasn't yet convinced them that he'd be a good choice."
Romney's attacks from the stump, on television, and supplemented by the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore our Future, have been effective. And the volatile swings of the nominating process mean that voters have seen those tactics repeated.
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry jumped into the race, Romney hammered him on immigration. When Gingrich surged in the concrete power screed polls in Iowa, Restore Our Future ran hundreds of TV ads pounding on the former speaker, and Romney finished far ahead of Gingrich. After Gingrich won South Carolina, the campaign and the super PAC ran ads lambasting him in Florida, where the former Massachusetts governor won.
"The criticism of Romney is not so much that he's gone negative, but that when he gets into trouble, he over-relies on that approach to the point that voters don't hear the more positive messages."
In opinion surveys, Romney does seem to be losing friends: In a Washington Post/ABC poll taken Jan. 18-22, before the Florida primary, Romney was tomato paste seen unfavorably by 49% of voters compared with 31% who saw him favorably, a big swing from the 39% favorable, 34% unfavorable rating for Romney in the same poll taken two weeks before.
"He needs to increase the appeal of his own candidacy and his own brand,"' says Donna Brazile, a Democratic political strategist-turned-CNN analyst. "The cumulative effect of these negative ads is it's not only … disintegrating his opponents, but it's also hurting his image. It's very difficult to sustain (the message that) 'I'm a businessman, I'm Mr Fixit'… when the other part they've seen is you're also the guy who is demolishing and demagoguing your opponents."
In Michigan, which holds its primary Feb. 28 along with Arizona, Romney's attacks on his opponents won't be a problem, says Greg McNeilly, a Republican strategist. Voters there expect gas thermocouple that "if you believe you're better than somebody else, you try to punch the other guy out."
A bigger danger, he says, is that while Michigan voters know the Romney family well — Romney grew up there and his father was governor — they don't necessarily know what Mitt Romney wants to do to solve their economic problems. "They know who he is and what he's about. What is missing is if you stopped Republican voters on the street and said, 'What is Mitt Romney going to do policy-wise?' that they'd be able to give you a succinct response. That's his challenge."
Brazile, the Democrat, agrees. "What they're hearing ac power cord from the Republicans is 'We dislike President Obama,' " she says. "That'll get you a lot of votes, but that won't get you across the proverbial finish line."
The Romney campaign began pointing the dagger at Santorum immediately after an embarrassing loss in three state contests Tuesday, when Romney began tagging Santorum as a Republican who had helped the party "lose its way" by "spending too much, borrowing too much, and earmarking too much." Santorum and Gingrich "are the very Republicans who acted like Democrats" when it came to spending in Congress, he said.
Romney has been taken to task by The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which said he "isn't winning friends with his relentlessly negative campaign" and "needs … to make a better, positive case for his candidacy beyond his business résumé."
"This week's results show that Romney has convinced conservatives that he can convince them that someone else is a solenoid valve bad choice," says Dan Schnur, who headed John McCain's 2000 campaign and is now director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. "But he hasn't yet convinced them that he'd be a good choice."
Romney's attacks from the stump, on television, and supplemented by the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore our Future, have been effective. And the volatile swings of the nominating process mean that voters have seen those tactics repeated.
When Texas Gov. Rick Perry jumped into the race, Romney hammered him on immigration. When Gingrich surged in the concrete power screed polls in Iowa, Restore Our Future ran hundreds of TV ads pounding on the former speaker, and Romney finished far ahead of Gingrich. After Gingrich won South Carolina, the campaign and the super PAC ran ads lambasting him in Florida, where the former Massachusetts governor won.
"The criticism of Romney is not so much that he's gone negative, but that when he gets into trouble, he over-relies on that approach to the point that voters don't hear the more positive messages."
In opinion surveys, Romney does seem to be losing friends: In a Washington Post/ABC poll taken Jan. 18-22, before the Florida primary, Romney was tomato paste seen unfavorably by 49% of voters compared with 31% who saw him favorably, a big swing from the 39% favorable, 34% unfavorable rating for Romney in the same poll taken two weeks before.
"He needs to increase the appeal of his own candidacy and his own brand,"' says Donna Brazile, a Democratic political strategist-turned-CNN analyst. "The cumulative effect of these negative ads is it's not only … disintegrating his opponents, but it's also hurting his image. It's very difficult to sustain (the message that) 'I'm a businessman, I'm Mr Fixit'… when the other part they've seen is you're also the guy who is demolishing and demagoguing your opponents."
In Michigan, which holds its primary Feb. 28 along with Arizona, Romney's attacks on his opponents won't be a problem, says Greg McNeilly, a Republican strategist. Voters there expect gas thermocouple that "if you believe you're better than somebody else, you try to punch the other guy out."
A bigger danger, he says, is that while Michigan voters know the Romney family well — Romney grew up there and his father was governor — they don't necessarily know what Mitt Romney wants to do to solve their economic problems. "They know who he is and what he's about. What is missing is if you stopped Republican voters on the street and said, 'What is Mitt Romney going to do policy-wise?' that they'd be able to give you a succinct response. That's his challenge."
Brazile, the Democrat, agrees. "What they're hearing ac power cord from the Republicans is 'We dislike President Obama,' " she says. "That'll get you a lot of votes, but that won't get you across the proverbial finish line."
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