simplexnews

HR manager beaten to death by angry workers

2009-09-23T11:25:00.001-07:00

road

2009-09-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

tree

2009-09-23T11:20:00.002-07:00

beach

2009-09-23T11:20:00.001-07:00

mountain

2009-09-23T11:19:00.002-07:00

waterfall

2009-09-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

Sheeps on landscape

2009-09-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

House

2009-09-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

[FS]Wacom Intuous4 Tablet - $600 (SW Edmonton)

2009-09-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

I have a brand new *used only once* Wacom Intuous4 Tablet for sale. Originally bought for school but left the program as it wasn't for me.

It is the Extra Large version of the tablet, which has a drawing surface of about 18.5".

Included:
Program CD
Digital Pen
Wireless Mouse
Interchangable pen tips

The tablet is great for those who use Photoshop on a regular basis. Also great for 3D programs such as XSI, Maya, Wizard, and Mac.

If interested please feel free to send me an email.

Location: SW Edmonton
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

NFL Power Rankings, Week 3

2009-09-23T11:13:00.001-07:00

Feel that? That was the NFL landscape shifting beneath our feet. At least as far as SI.com's NFL Power Rankings go. Not only did our top three teams from last week -- New England, Pittsburgh and Green Bay -- all go down to their first defeat in Week 2, six of our top 10 clubs bit the dust, proving there's nothing quite so volatile as an NFL power ranking in September.

This week's rankings probably should be sponsored by Otis Elevators, because I've got teams hurtling up and down furiously, and I've even given a few of the bigger disappointments the shaft. To no surprise, the upstart Jets are one of the flavors of the week, with the Colts, 49ers, Vikings and Bengals making significant strides as well. You can spot the nose-divers easily enough. They were in my top 10 last week.

Change can be good. Invigorating even. But if this pace keeps up, we're going to look sillier than a list of Eric Mangini's team rules.

Same 4-bedroom house - wildly different prices

2009-09-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Imagine you're a mid-level executive living in Grayling, Mich., the "Canoe Capital of the World." You've received a job offer that pays twice as much in posh La Jolla, Calif., the seaside resort near San Diego.

It sounds like a no-brainer, right? Not only will you earn all that extra money, you'll be enjoying some of the best weather in the United States. You can boat year round.

What you may not have considered is how much it costs to buy the kind of home you've gotten used to in Michigan. As a matter of fact, you better plan on spending nearly 20 times as much, according to the 2009 Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index.

This index, released Wednesday, is an "apples-to-apples" comparison of similar homes in so-called "move-up buyer" neighborhoods. It compares the prices charged for 2,200-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-and-one-half bath, single-family homes in more than 300 markets around the nation.

The overall U.S. average for such a house is $363,401, but in Grayling, it sells for just $122,675, the most affordable market in the nation.

La Jolla, on the other hand, is the most expensive; a comparable house there goes for a cool $2.125 million. That more than $2 million disparity is up from 2004, when the spread between the most expensive and most affordable towns was $1.5 million.

"La Jolla, loosely translated, means 'the jewel' in Spanish," said Rick Hoffman, a Coldwell Banker broker in San Diego. "It's always been a place everybody goes to. The weather is excellent. There's great shopping, restaurants and recreation. In non-rush-hour traffic you're only 15 minutes from downtown San Diego."

Grayling also has excellent recreational opportunities, many of which revolve around the Au Sable River, which runs through town. That makes the fishing and canoeing in this northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula splendid. Winter sports, like snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are also big.

But like most of Michigan, the economy here is slow. Much of the business is propped up by Camp Grayling, a nearby Army base. There's also the tourist trade -- lots of vacation homes in the area -- and timbering in the state forests, according to Laurie Jamison, a broker with Coldwell Banker Cornell Realty.

"If you had a $2 million home in Grayling, you'd be king of the mountain," she said. "I couldn't imagine seeing a house like that here." The most expensive home she sold recently was a big, lakefront property for about $600,000.

Big affordability improvement

La Jolla notwithstanding, housing affordability has improved dramatically, according to Jim Gillespie, Coldwell Banker's CEO.

"I am most intrigued with the affordability levels now seen across much of the nation," he said. "Thirty percent of the markets show this type of home to be below $200,000, illustrating the opportunity to take advantage of price declines, interest rate levels and increased selection of homes."

According to the report, in 84 of the U.S. markets Coldwell Banker covers, the sample home price averages under $200,000. At that price, the monthly mortgage costs should not exceed $1,200.

As for that house in Grayling -- factoring in 20% down and a 5.5%, 30-year fixed rate loan -- it would cost a mortgage borrower only about $512 a month.

Under those same terms, the monthly mortgage bill would come to nearly $10,000 in La Jolla. Not that you could get the same deal. The loan would have to be a jumbo mortgage, since it exceeds cap limits for loans issued through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That would add about a point to the interest rate and $1,000 to the monthly housing costs.

Some of the other very affordable towns include: Akron, Ohio, where this type of house costs $121,885; Fayetteville, N.C., $130,875; and Canton, Ohio, $131,867. The most affordable markets are sprinkled all over the Midwest, Southwest and South.

Most of the highest priced markets are in California. The Golden State accounts for eight of the top 10 towns. Beverly Hills is second at $1.982 million, followed by Greenwich, Conn., at $1.59 million. Boston is the other non-California town to crack the top 10; it was seventh at $1.34 million. That was one place behind San Francisco, the biggest city on the list.

Variations within states

Not only are there huge affordability differences around the nation, there are big spreads within the same states. While California has many of the most expensive cities, for example, it also has some very affordable ones.

In Lancaster, Calif., which lies just north of Los Angeles and is one of the nation's fastest growing cities, the sample home goes for $165,205 -- nearly $2 million less than La Jolla.

West Hartford, Conn., has these exec homes for $242,789, more than $1 million less than Greenwich. In Massachusetts, a home in the old mill town of Worcester costs $242,769, a million dollars less than in Boston, just 47 miles away.

The smallest spreads occur in the wide-open-space states, such as Oklahoma, where homes in the most expensive market, Oklahoma City ($164,250), cost less than $10,000 more than the most affordable one, Tulsa ($154,800).

In Idaho, Boise homes cost $215,432 compared with $204,518 in Coeur d'Alene. And homes in Florence, Ky., cost $212,720, compared to $188,017 in Lexington

Stocks struggle to rise ahead of the Fed

2009-09-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

When Wall Street nearly collapsed ?Would panic prevail? That was the question gripping the world in the days surrounding the fall of Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15, 2008. One year after that terrifying Monday, the people who struggled to cope with the financial crisis share what they were thinking as chaos broke out.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wall Street churned Wednesday ahead of the latest policy statement from the Federal Reserve, with a stronger dollar and weakness in commodity shares keeping a lid on any gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 18 points, or 0.2%, with around 3 hours left in the session, after ending the previous session at the highest point since Oct. 6, 2008.

The S&P 500 (SPX) index trended higher after ending at the highest level since Oct. 3.

The Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 4 points, or 0.2%, after finishing at the highest mark since last Sept. 26.

Investors are focused on the Federal Reserve, which concludes its two-day policy setting meeting with an announcement on tap for roughly 2:15 p.m. ET. The central bank is widely expected to hold the fed funds rate, a key short-term bank lending rate, at a level near zero.

However, what the bankers say in the much-scrutinized statement about the economic outlook will be key. Last week, Fed chief Ben Bernanke said the recession is likely over, but the labor market still has a long way to go.

Investors will also be looking to see if they say anything about how they plan to eventually wind down programs that pumped trillions into the economy to cushion the blow of the recession.

One-year highs: The major indexes have repeatedly closed at near 1-year highs over the last two weeks. Despite rampant calls for a September selloff, investors have used any modest pullback as an opportunity to get back into stocks at a slightly lower level. Analysts say fears of having missed the boat on the rally are driving the latest spate of gains.

Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained 58.4% and the Dow has gained 50%, as of Tuesday's close. After hitting a six-year low, the Nasdaq has gained 69.2%.

Stocks have risen during this period on signs that the economy is slowly starting to recover and on extraordinary amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Airlines: American Airlines and US Airways Group both slipped after announcing plans to raise cash, dragging down the airline sector in the morning.

American said it has priced its offering of 48.5 million shares of common stock, as well as $400 million in 5-year notes, with both offerings due to close Monday. The two sales should give American about $770.5 million after fees and expenses. American parent AMR (AMR, Fortune 500) fell 5%.

US Airways Group (LCC, Fortune 500) said it will sell 26.3 million shares of its common stock to Citigroup, the offering's underwriter, with the sale due to close Monday. US Airways fell 10.7%.

The NYSE Arca Airline (XAL) index lost 2%.

Other company news: General Mills (GIS, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly earnings that topped forecasts and boosted its full-year outlook, due to strong sales of Cheerios, Trix and its other cereal brands. Shares rose over 4%.

Washington: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a House committee that U.S. economic growth appears to be picking up, but that reforms must be enacted to fix a broken system. He was testifying at a House Financial Services committee hearing on regulatory reform.

At least one million people could be eligible for an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, following a House of Representatives bill approved Tuesday night. The Senate is expected to take up the issue soon, although it faces some questions about how it should be funded.

0:00 /3:04Forecast: Record low rates hold

World markets: Global markets were mostly higher. In Europe, London's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX all advanced in late trading. In Asia, the Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.5%, while Japan's market was closed for a holiday.

Currency and commodities: The dollar gained versus the yen and euro, bouncing after hitting a fresh one-year low against a basket of currencies in the morning.

The strength in the dollar dragged on dollar-traded oil and gold prices.

U.S. light crude oil for October delivery fell $2.66 to $69.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, dropping after a government report showed a big jump in weekly crude supplies.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell $4.70 to $1,010.80 an ounce. Gold closed at a record high of $1,020.20 last week.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.45% from 3.44% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners narrowly topped losers on volume of 520 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers topped decliners by a small margin on volume of 1.31 billion shares

How the travel industry can win you back

2009-09-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

But before you say "yes," listen to Laura Salisbury, a teacher from San Jose, California. She mistakenly typed the wrong return date when she booked a vacation for her and her mother through Expedia.

"All I wanted to do was give my mom a trip of a lifetime to celebrate the successful end of her cancer treatment," she says. The two women planned to visit Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

When she asked Expedia for help, it deferred to Delta Air Lines. "A representative at Delta said that the tickets were nonrefundable, but that the company would change the flight dates for me for a $200 fee per ticket," she says.

"I said the flight change charge is more than what the tickets even cost, and that new tickets would be cheaper. I was then told that I was welcome to order new tickets if I did not wish to pay the fees."

Before all of you airline apologists pounce on Salisbury for booking a nonrefundable ticket -- and on me for being naive enough to give her a platform (what part of "nonrefundable don't I understand?" I can almost hear you saying) -- let's take a minute to think about this.

The vacation package she bought didn't offer a prohibitively expensive, fully-refundable airfare. But more to the point, why couldn't Expedia go to bat for her? Why couldn't Delta change her ticket if she made an honest mistake? Is the $400 it would pocket in change fees worth the lifetime of business it will probably lose from her?

There's no better time to be asking "why" than now. That's because things probably can't get any worse for the travel industry. Hotels are in foreclosure, airlines are once again on the verge of bankruptcy, tour operators are selling their products at ridiculous discounts, and destinations are resorting to publicity stunts to attract visitors.

For example, Southwest Airlines held a two-day blowout sale a few weeks ago, in which tickets were offered for less than it costs to fill the tank of an average SUV. The Copley Square Hotel, a luxury hotel in Boston, was hawking rooms for less than the price of a cab ride to Logan Airport. And in a move that can only be described as utter desperation, the notoriously unfriendly Parisians, in an effort to "show that Paris loves its tourists and knows how to welcome them," strapped on rollerblades and formed an enormous human smile at Place Vendome.

I'll give you a few moments to ponder that image.

The fare sales and sideshows may lure some of us back in the near term. But over the long haul, they do nothing to fix the real problem. Basically, we've concluded that the travel industry is largely comprised of money-grubbing opportunists, and no fire sale is going to fix that.

But here are a few things that might:

1. Try "YES"

Instead of gimmicky sales and two-for-ones, why not just stop saying "no"? For instance, why can't you change the name on airline tickets? Well, airlines insist it's for "security reasons." So why do carriers like Allegiant Air allow name changes? Granted, there's a $50 fee, and Allegiant throws an obscene amount of other surcharges at its passengers. But why not allow the name on a ticket to be changed? Simple thing, really.

2. Roll back recent rule changes

Some of the recent rule changes, which appear to be designed solely to make a quick buck for travel companies, need to be nullified in order to make us come back. For example, why did car rental companies abbreviate the one-hour grace period for late rentals to half an hour? Why did some of them eliminate it altogether? Answer: They wanted to make more money. But it only made customers upset. Are these ridiculous new policies worth the frustration they cause? Short term, yes. They do boost revenues. Long term, no. They'll drive us away.

3. Enough with the fees, already

It's time to say it: A la carte fees are a failure. Sure, they bring in lots of money -- just look at how much the airlines have made this year from luggage fees -- but a closer look reveals an often-negative correlation between fees and profitability. In other words, the more an airline charges in fees, the less profitable it is. Put differently, travel companies aren't just killing us with their fees. They're killing themselves.

4. Common sense, please

Why does a one-way airline ticket cost more than a round-trip ticket? Why is changing a ticket sometimes more expensive than the ticket itself? These rules make no sense whatsoever to customers, even when you explain the apparent logic behind them. Believe me, I've tried.

People like Katerina Naumenko, a medical student in Grenada who missed her American Airlines flight and had to pay $544 for the last leg of her flight -- which was more than the cost of the entire round-trip ticket -- don't buy it. "I explained the situation to them and they still insisted that I had to purchase another ticket," she told me. How about a new rule? The change fee can't be more than the value of the ticket.

5. No more double dipping

Ever canceled a hotel room or cruise, and forfeited the entire value of your reservation because of a nonrefundability policy? If you have, maybe you've wondered if the travel company ever resold the room or berth, and effectively cashed in on the room twice. It's a legitimate question: Should a company be able to collect the money two times, or should it offer a refund if it can find someone else to fill the room? Giving the money back, particularly when the room is resold, would go a long way to restoring the goodwill between travelers and the travel industry.

6. Show some compassion

Here's a summer travel paradox: Travel companies are bending over backward for your business, yet at the same time, they're throwing the book in our faces when we run afoul of one of their "gotcha" rules. Let's say you're delayed by a flight problem and arrive a day late for your vacation. Don't even bother asking your hotel to adjust your rate. It probably won't.

What if you missed the flight? You'll lose the value of your ticket, plus you'll have to pay for a new one. Ditto for your rental car, if you've pre-paid for it. But when the tables are turned -- when the hotel is oversold, the airline can't take off because of air traffic control problems, or a hurricane shuts down your hotel -- travelers cut the companies a lot of slack without demand for compensation. Why shouldn't those same companies give us a break? It's only fair.

I can almost hear those of you in the travel business saying, "Never. We're not running a charity." (And a note to the travel agents reading this -- take a deep breath. I don't think of you as being part of the travel industry for the purposes of this discussion. You're on the traveler's side when it comes to fighting these silly policies. You are often victims, too.)

To those of you who think hotels are just lodging and airlines are nothing more than transportation, I have just one thing to say to you: You're in the wrong business. There's a reason they refer to the hotel industry as the hospitality business, and it's a reason you've apparently forgotten.

Only now, in a moment of desperation, are travel companies rediscovering what their customers want.

And it's simple, really. We want a reliable product at a fair price. We don't want to be taken advantage of. And we want to feel loved.

GOOD celeb news? That’s Ludacris!

2009-09-23T11:04:00.001-07:00

Entertainment news has been even more of a moral cesspool than usual lately, from obnoxious behavior and bitter breakups to alleged extortion, drug abuse, and now claims of incest. If you don’t enjoy reading such stories, rest assured it’s not much fun writing them either — not for me, anyway. (And for those of you who do enjoy them … well, I still don’t like writing them.)

So, in keeping with Alex Haley’s admonition to “find the good and praise it,” I’d like to call to your attention a story from earlier this month that some of you may have missed. Many people are struggling to find work right now, and that can be even more difficult if you don’t have a car. Well, that’s no longer a problem for 20 job seekers in Atlanta, thanks to a local auto dealer and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. The rapper/actor and the car dealer teamed up to give away 20 new cars to contest winners who explained in essays how being without a car made their search for a job even tougher.

Sure, Ludacris gets good press out of it, and the dealership likely gets a tax writeoff. But 20 people are more likely to be able to find work, support their families, and pump money back into the economy as a result … and those same people got an amazing lift at an especially tough time. Who couldn’t use that?

At the same time people rush to dump on Oprah and others who use their celebrity for good, we also hear a constant stream of “why don’t you report good news?” Consider this our latest attempt to do just that, and encourage more of it.

Sarah Michelle Prinze has baby girl

2009-09-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

People.com -- Sarah Michelle Prinze and husband Freddie Prinze Jr. are parents, PEOPLE has learned exclusively.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and his wife Sarah Michelle Prinze are first time parents.

The couple "welcomed their daughter Charlotte Grace Prinze on Saturday, Sept. 19," said a rep for the actress. "The family is over the moon."

This is the first child for the couple, who revealed that they were expecting back in April.

Freddie Prinze Jr. will star on the upcoming season of "24."

Sarah Michelle - whom Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Michelle Trachtenberg says will make a great mom - recently changed her last name from Gellar to Prinze.

See how Sarah Michelle Prinze stayed fit during her pregnancy.

Commentary: Obama's NY week starts shakily

2009-09-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (CNN) -- On the international stage, this week is President Obama's most important since taking office.

He arrived in New York on Monday and by the time he finishes chairing the Global Conference of 20 (world leaders) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this weekend he will have earned his pay check (not that a president doesn't earn it every week).

Unfortunately, the president stepped on his international story over the weekend when news surfaced that the White House had informed New York's Gov. David Paterson not to run for re-election and signaled that the White House wants Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to replace him.

The embarrassment to one of the nation's two black governors, who wound up greeting the president at his arrival in Paterson's home state, after being jettisoned over the side, was painful to watch. The New York tabloids are hammering the president for his ineptitude and timing.

I wouldn't call this a lasting blow to the president, but he needs to quit the lecture about being above the fray and not being partisan. He also showed a somewhat tin ear by beginning the week appearing on David Letterman's show. He can do that anytime.

This is a serious week and the decision to go on Letterman's show suggests that the vaunted Obama message machine might be missing a few beats. Guys! Last week was health care. This week: "World leader!"

And that will be the question asked and answered at the end of the week.

Will President Obama emerge at the end of the week as a true world leader or just a personable young man who wants everyone to love him?

The first impression many world leaders have of our new president is that he is willing to apologize for any previous, unpopular U.S. foreign policy position and he is willing to change positions pretty quickly. Just ask Poland, which was distressed by Obama's decision to shift the U.S. missile defense strategy last week.

This is U.N. week in New York City. To those of us who reside within the boundaries of Manhattan, this is the most dreaded week of the year. We start September with the U.S. Open Tennis Championships (we all love tennis) followed by fashion week -- a week for rich society matrons and a bunch of tall skinny models wearing hideous dresses and 10,000 part-time photographers trying to make them look glamorous.

Most of us really don't care about fashion. Just look at how we dress. But we all hate U.N. week! Oh we want world peace and clean environments and all that, but why can't they meet in Geneva or someplace else?

Gridlock, which is a frequent description of the condition of traffic in the Big Apple, goes to code red this week.

Representatives from all 192 U.N. Member States and most of the world's heads of state are in New York City for the opening of the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly

If you are not a head of state with a motorcade, forget about it. Stay out of town or go underground to subway city. And every third-rate power in the world has a motorcade with cop cars, sirens and redlights and is made to feel important courtesy of the extremely efficient New York Police Department and the various government security forces that are ever present.

Parties, receptions, back room meetings and the like are going on everywhere and if you are not invited, don't get insulted, just know you are not important.

But this is also a week in which the big boys and girls of world politics work hard. Some real important stuff does happen this week. Most of it's not out in the open or in the public halls of the United Nations. It's in the private behind-the-scenes meetings that go on around the clock.

And that brings us back to the most important man in town this week, President Obama; the man every world leader is watching, measuring, and evaluating. And wants to meet. How do you go back home and tell your people how important you are if you can't get a meeting with the president while he's in town. Revolutions and coups were started over less.

Even though Obama is by far the most widely known world leader, and maybe one of the most liked, this is the week he must earn respect.

Every other leader will walk away with a lasting impression, favorable or unfavorable, of President Obama based on how he does over the next several days. This is not the week you get by on personality, but on leadership.

This is the week the president moves from "doctor-in-chief" trying to sell health care to a skeptical nation to "world-leader-in-chief" trying to sell to skeptical global leaders that the United States can be the leader in finding a solution to the world's economic, environmental, and security troubles and that we are not the problem.

The president gave two big environment speeches Tuesday, delivering opening remarks at U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's climate change summit in the morning and at former President Clinton's Global Initiative conference in the late afternoon.

In between he met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas. After that, the three leaders met again for a photo op. No punches were reportedly thrown, which can be viewed as progress. As if that wasn't a full enough day, the president met one-on-one with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The president gives his big welcoming speech Wednesday to the general assembly and then on to more private meetings with as many world leaders as he can fit in.

The president departs for Pittsburgh for the gang of 20 meeting latter in the week but we New Yorkers are still stuck for a few more days with the hangers on and leaders who don't want to go home. Some minor gridlock here but the big gridlock moves to Pittsburgh. Steelers fans are tough and I am sure they can handle it.

Meanwhile we New Yorkers will survive. I am sure our president will survive also. Hopefully after a week like this, his image as a world leader will be enhanced.

Borger: Congress needs 'Boss Obama'

2009-09-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

Editor's note: Gloria Borger is a senior political analyst for CNN, appearing regularly on CNN's "The Situation Room," "Campbell Brown," "AC360°" and "State of the Union With John King," as well as during special event coverage.

Gloria Borger says the president needs to use his political muscle to get Democrats to pass health reform.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- First of all, let me stipulate that, as a purely political matter, I take no issue with President Obama's concern that Democrats could take a shellacking in 2010.

I have no problem with his political aides recruiting candidates and nudging (er, pushing) others aside, such as New York Gov. David Paterson. And it's a good idea that they're paying attention to redistricting fights in statehouses.

Boss Obama isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's a good thing.

Of course, there is that small matter of post-partisan Obama. Remember that guy? He's the candidate who wanted to take us beyond red states and blue states. He wanted to work with Republicans, not simply defeat them.

It was always a leap of faith, this notion that somehow partisanship could be swept aside in a Congress populated by members elected in increasingly partisan districts. Or that, because of Obama's considerable powers of persuasion and popularity, Republicans would decide to join hands with their Democratic brethren to find solutions to our toughest problems.

Didn't happen. Maybe it never could. The president's plans left the GOP cold -- and they found warmth and happiness in total opposition. It's the only thing that's working for them.

And so post-partisan Obama had to pass his economic stimulus package largely without Republicans. And he's going to have to do the same with health care.

So here's an idea: Why not let Boss Obama loose on Congress?

The White House plan to hand the power over to Congress failed miserably. So why not take it back, knock some heads (Democratic, that is) together, and get some version of reform passed. If the president can't be post-partisan, as he had hoped, he might as well try to be successful.

Of course, such a turn would require the president to take on a few folks within his own party. He will have to tell liberals to live with a plan without the public option; he will have to tell conservatives they're going to have to eat a higher price tag than they might like.

He may well have wanted to be the first president to rise above the petty politics of Washington, but now that he's here, there's another consideration: winning.

Remember Bill Clinton? In his first year in office, his liberal base complained about his budget, trade bills and cuts in social spending. And that was three years before he passed welfare reform -- and won a second term.

Yet there is still some resistance from the president. One Democratic source working on health care reform said "the president isn't there yet. He's still pushing for comprehensive reform and something approaching universal coverage."

As a result, "there's no center of gravity to be found in the Democratic party," the source said.

That's where The Boss comes in.

The president could outline a smaller bill -- strong on insurance reforms with a good downpayment on extending coverage. "There are plenty of Democrats high up who would be totally happy with that," said another Democratic source involved in the reform process. "There are just a bunch of Democrats who are not going to vote for a big bill."

It was the post-partisan Obama who let the health care debate get away from him. He let the House work its will and then let Democratic Sen. Max Baucus spend months in a wheelhouse, only to wind up with a plan that maybe one Republican will support.

Health reform needs a new narrative. It needs a political leader, willing to cut the deals to insure something gets done. Sure, the president wants something bigger; that's what he promised. But if it's not going to happen, he needs to start to boss some folks around a Plan B.

After all, Barack Obama may have pledged to dump politics-as-usual in Washington. But he did not take an oath of political celibacy.

Security Council doesn't work, Gadhafi tells U.N.

2009-09-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday denounced the structure of the U.N. Security Council, criticizing the permanent seats and veto power granted to a limited number of nations.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly's annual debate session, Gadhafi called for world unity in confronting global crises such as climate change and food shortages.

But he elaborated on what he believes is the unfairness of the structure of the Security Council, which has five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. Each of those nations has veto power.

"No one is objecting to the preamble [of the U.N. charter], but everything that came after that is contradiction of the preamble," he said through an interpreter. "The preamble says the nations are equal whether they are small or big. Are we equal in permanent seats? No, we're not equals." Watch Gadhafi demand equality »

Citing the history of colonization and persecution of Africans, he said there needs to be a permanent African presence on the body, calling that a "priority" for the United Nations.

General Assembly speakers*

Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil

Barack Obama, president of the United States

Moammar Gadhafi, leader of Libya

Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France

Gordon Brown, prime minister of the United Kingdom

Hu Jintao, president of China

Dmitry Medvedev, president of Russia

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran

*abridged list

He also said that despite the fact that the United Nations says there should be no resorting to military force unless it is a collective decision, 65 wars broke out after the establishment of the United Nations, and the Security Council didn't do anything to stop the conflicts.

Gadhafi said the Security Council hasn't provided security, but "terror and sanctions."

He slammed U.S. military actions in places like Korea, Vietnam, and Grenada. He called the invasion of Iraq "the mother of all evils," criticizing the hanging of deposed leader Saddam Hussein and the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

He also said there should be investigations into many incidents, such as the Afghan war, the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp during the Lebanese civil war, Israel's Gaza offensive, and the killings in the 1960s of former President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Gadhafi also broached the idea of taking the U.N. headquarters out of the United States and putting it in another location.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Obama made speeches before Gadhafi. Watch President Obama speak to the United Nations »

Ban, giving the annual session's opening address, urged global leaders to unite and work together to face many of the world's challenges: "Now is our time. A time to put the 'united' back into the United Nations. United in purpose. United in action."

He focused on the importance of tackling "the threat of catastrophic climate change" and expressed hope that if nations work together to deal with the problem, they will succeed.

He touched on nuclear disarmament, saying, "Let us make this the year we agreed to banish the bomb." Watch how the General Assembly works »

Ban also talked of the need to fight world poverty, citing what he said is an urgent development: that "near-poor" people are becoming "the new poor." He cited the possibility that 100 million people "could fall below the poverty line this year."

Noting the economic crisis around the world, the secretary-general said markets may be bouncing back, but incomes and jobs are not.

"People are angry. They believe the global economy is stacked against them," he said, mentioning U.N. initiatives to address such economic problems.

Other urgent issues he noted include sexual violence, child mortality, and empowerment of women.

He underscored the importance of the International Criminal Court and named trouble spots around the globe that continue to require urgent attention, including Sudan's Darfur region, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Gaza, and Afghanistan.

He also cited "significant progress" in unstable environments such as Timor-Leste, Haiti, Sierra Leone and Nepal. "We see quiet progress in Iraq ... and fresh opportunities in Cyprus," Ban said.

Obama touted strides he has made since entering office, such as prohibiting torture, and listed four challenges the world should tackle: nuclear non-proliferation, the pursuit of peace, the preservation of the planet, and the global economic crisis. He, too, encouraged world unity.

"In this hall, we come from many places, but we share a common future," he said.

As for the vision of nuclear disarmament, Obama made reference to Iran and North Korea and their nuclear aspirations.

"If they are oblivious to the dangers of escalating nuclear arms races in both East Asia and the Middle East, then they must be held accountable."

In another address Wednesday morning, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva elaborated on the ongoing economic crisis, lack of democratic world governance and the threat of climate change.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's controversial president, was scheduled to speak early Wednesday evening. An Israeli official has called on leaders to leave the General Assembly hall when he delivers his address.

"We call on world leaders to leave plenum when Ahmadinejad begins to rant and not give legitimacy to the most dangerous anti-Semite since Hitler," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon posted on Twitter.

Others on the agenda Wednesday were French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Taliban suspected of stockpiling 'missing' Afghan opium

2009-09-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Enough Afghan opium to supply world demand for two years has effectively gone missing, with the Taliban suspected of stockpiling supplies in a bid to corner the market, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed.

Pakistani customs officials destroy contraband narcotics on the border with Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is the world's leading narcotics supplier. Earlier this month, a U.N. study revealed Afghanistan's opium production had dropped dramatically this year partly because of new aggressive drug-fighting tactics in the country.

According to the UNODC report, production dipped by 10 percent this year while cultivation fell by 22 percent.

However, a senior U.N. spokesman warned that this positive news should be treated with caution.

"We figure the world needs around 4,000 tons of opium a year for licit and illicit purposes," Walter Kemp of the UNODC told CNN. Has enough empasis been placed on drug trafficking?

"But this year around 6,900 tons was produced, with 7,700 tons delivered last year and more than 8,500 the year before that. Map showing where Afghan opium is going »

"So if the world only needs around 4,000 tons of opium and a further 1,000 is seized, where is the rest of it going?"

According to Kemp, world demand for opium remains stable yet prices are not crashing, which suggests a large amount of opium is being withheld from the market.

"Our guess is that around 12,000 tons of opium has been stockpiled somewhere -- not all in one place but in and around Afghanistan," he added. "So while production might be coming down -- mostly because of market reasons -- there's still a lot of product around to satisfy demand for about two years."

It is unclear exactly who is responsible for this but there's growing evidence, according to the U.N., that the Taliban are becoming increasingly involved in the industry and could be sitting on huge stockpiles of opium to use as credit for financing their activities.

"Farmers will be keeping small amounts back as credit for things such as a dowry or buying livestock," said Kemp. "But they won't have the means to store supplies in the kind of quantities we're talking about here.

"It's probably in the hands of people with the ability to store it underground and to keep people away from it through corruption or force."

Hakan Demirbuken, a research expert on the U.N.'s Afghan Opium Trade Program, said Taliban involvement in the drugs trade is not limited to taxing Afghan opium farmers and traders in return for their "protection."

He told CNN: "Last year we estimated that Afghan poppy farmers earned around $730 million, while traders who take the product on to the border earned around $3.4 billion."

"From this lucrative business the Taliban took around $125 million in tax.

"But according to U.N. figures they need around $800 million per year for their operational needs."

However, most of the trade is controlled by organized criminal groups from outside Afghanistan. Therefore Demirbuken believes groups such as the Taliban and al Qaeda will be forging links with criminal gangs in order to become more involved in the production and trafficking stages.

In addition to the increased revenue greater involvement would provide, he said groups such as al Qaeda "will have noted the destabilizing effect this industry -- and the sums of money it generates -- can have on more vulnerable countries with weak governments."

In October last year, the United States told NATO members that the drug trade was a threat to coalition troops because there was a direct connection between it and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

"There is what we call a nexus of insurgency. There's a very broad range of militant groups that are combined with the criminality, with the narco-trafficking system, with corruption, that form a threat and a challenge to the future of that great country," then-U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. David McKiernan told reporters.

As a result NATO combat forces have now been actively attacking militants, drug laboratories and buildings connected to insurgents with ties to drug lords for the first time since the start of the Afghan conflict in 2001.

Meanwhile, international law enforcement organization, Interpol, believes there has been a change of tactic involving Afghanistan's opium, with much more of it being turned into heroin within the country and stockpiled or couriered out, primarily through Iran.

Historically Afghanistan has been responsible only for cultivating raw opium, with the conversion into a final product taking place across the border in Pakistan or in Iran and Turkey, according to the UNODC.

Producing heroin in Afghanistan makes it easier to conceal and transport than the bulkier raw opium.

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-22T20:57:00.007-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-22T20:57:00.005-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-22T20:57:00.003-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-22T20:57:00.001-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-20T19:03:00.001-07:00

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Putent aperiri mediocritatem duo ex, duis aeque ullamcorper vel ei. Ei solum sonet docendi cum, idque recteque liberavisse ne sit. Semper vocibus cu sea, eu per vocent audiam. His dico tantas recteque in, in has noster conclusionemque, eum nibh choro an. Omnes libris reprimique sea no, duo feugait verterem ea. In sumo nihil mediocritatem duo, quas luptatum conclusionemque et nec, magna delectus posidonium te cum. Veri latine veritus at cum, per dicta labores debitis an.

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

che guevara

2009-09-20T09:11:00.001-07:00

che guevara

2009-09-20T09:10:00.001-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-20T02:31:00.007-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-20T02:31:00.005-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-20T02:31:00.003-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-20T02:31:00.001-07:00

European air safety agency orders Airbus part checked

2009-09-20T02:15:00.005-07:00

Thieves use helicopter, explosives in daring cash depot raid

2009-09-20T02:15:00.003-07:00

Dust storm blankets Australian cities in red haze

2009-09-20T02:15:00.001-07:00

Anne Hathaway Is Calling Off Her Engagement

2009-09-20T02:14:00.000-07:00

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Duis sodales, nulla a cursus ultricies, sem lorem egestas nisi, vel varius magna nisl in pede. Donec nec mauris rutrum tortor lobortis blandit. Mauris quis elit. Cras sit amet elit. Mauris lectus ligula, hendrerit eget, porta sit amet, pellentesque feugiat, felis. Pellentesque viverra vehicula mi. Curabitur dui arcu, tempus sit amet, dignissim at, aliquet ac, arcu. Cras placerat consequat purus. Vestibulum non urna. Maecenas feugiat, dolor ut condimentum euismod, felis magna suscipit nisl, vel ultrices est libero in nibh. Nam condimentum facilisis nulla.

Mackenzie Phillips: I had sex with musician dad John Phillips

2009-09-20T02:00:00.000-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-19T21:22:00.001-07:00

Lorem ipsum putent aperiri mediocritatem natum vocibus, movet iriure concludaturque pri ex. Et per dicant tantas impedit. Iudico philosophia comprehen mediocritatem natum, duo aperiam detraxit concludaturque , an kasd partem omnesque vix. Autem forensibus ad eam, unum erat voluptatibus usu in. Detracto accusata assueverit ei usu, ex qui causae percipit.
Cu nec liber veritus pertinax, an quodsi vidisse duo. Mei cu puto viris mollis, partem aperiri saperet id ius. Soluta populo delicatissimi usu in, prima adhuc omnes ut nec, quodsi quaestio splendide in sea. Viderer qualisque id nam.
Putent aperiri mediocritatem duo ex, duis aeque ullamcorper vel ei. Ei solum sonet docendi cum, idque recteque liberavisse ne sit. Semper vocibus cu sea, eu per vocent audiam. His dico tantas recteque in, in has noster conclusionemque, eum nibh choro an. Omnes libris reprimique sea no, duo feugait verterem ea. In sumo nihil mediocritatem duo, quas luptatum conclusionemque et nec, magna delectus posidonium te cum. Veri latine veritus at cum, per dicta labores debitis an.

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-19T21:21:00.003-07:00

img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-89" title="argentina" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cpRAWV1JgE8/SBbUX5-AA-I/AAAAAAAAEAQ/OyY_FsaLHgI/s400/Nature-32.jpg" />
Lorem ipsum putent aperiri mediocritatem natum vocibus, movet iriure concludaturque pri ex. Et per dicant tantas impedit. Iudico philosophia comprehen mediocritatem natum, duo aperiam detraxit concludaturque , an kasd partem omnesque vix. Autem forensibus ad eam, unum erat voluptatibus usu in. Detracto accusata assueverit ei usu, ex qui causae percipit.

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-19T21:21:00.001-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-19T21:20:00.002-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-19T21:20:00.001-07:00

On the Up and Up to Northern Argentina–First Stop: Welcome to Tucumán

2009-09-19T21:19:00.001-07:00

how to resize images in your blogger post ?

2009-09-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

just as this code in style section of your template . Find the line <b:skin><![CDATA[/* and insert this code after :

img {
max-width: 480px;
width: expression(this.width > 480 ? 480: true);
border: none;
text-align: center;
}

in the code above ,480 is the maximum width of images . You can change this value for your blog .