2010年11月18日星期四

Obama, Democrats fail to agree on plan for expiring tax cuts

President Obama and congressional Democrats failed to agree on a strategy Thursday for extending an array of expiring tax breaks, with the party badly divided over whether to temporarily extend the cuts for all taxpayers or whether to stick with their pledge to protect only the middle class. ugg style boots

During a meeting at the White House, Democrats resolved to stage a vote on the plan they have backed for months and which formed a key plank in Obama's presidential campaign platform: Extend the tax breaks for families earning less than $250,000 a year while letting tax rates rise for wealthier taxpayers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) both said they would put such a plan to a vote in their respective chambers immediately after the Thanksgiving break. But Democrats acknowledged that such a bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, where Republicans - and at least half a dozen Democrats - are arguing that it makes no sense to raise anyone's taxes when the economy is so weak.

"There's not a consensus," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), emerging from an afternoon meeting where Senate Democrats wrestled with the tax issue for nearly three hours, discussing numerous options without reaching agreement.

"I think there's a reality here, which is that while it might be best to continue the middle-class tax cuts and raise taxes on higher-income people, the votes are not there to do that," Lieberman said, adding that he would support continuing all the cuts for two years to avoid an across-the-board tax hike.


Democrats also said they were reluctant to take any permanent action while a presidential commission seeks to identify fiscal reforms aimed at lowering deficits over the long term. ugg boots for cheap

"You can't decide any one of these in a vacuum," said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.). "Some of us are asking questions of, if you do this now, do you lock yourself in? . . . Many of us want to know the consequences" of agreeing to permanent cuts, she said.

Unless Congress acts, virtually every taxpayer will be hit with higher tax rates in January that could leave monthly paychecks hundreds of dollars lighter. Republicans and Democrats alike say they are eager to avoid that outcome, which could damage the fragile economic recovery along with their political fortunes.

Since the elections earlier this month that gave Republicans control of the House and a stronger hand in the Senate, however, the two sides have yet to have much luck working together. Republicans don't fully take power until January; however, the political aftershock has already changed the dynamics on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, the House failed to approve a plan to extend emergency unemployment benefits, with all but 11 Democrats voting for it and all but 21 Republicans voting against it.

Emergency unemployment insurance, which provides up to 99 weeks of income support, is set to expire Nov. 30. Unless it is extended, advocates say as many as 3 million people will see their checks cut off by the end of January. ugg boots on sale

A partisan battle may also be brewing over government spending. The government will shut down Dec. 3 unless Congress acts. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would oppose a move by some Democrats to push through a full year's worth of higher spending, rather than simply adopting a temporary measure to keep funding government at last year's levels.

"If this election showed us anything, it's that Americans don't want Congress passing massive trillion-dollar bills that have been thrown together behind closed doors. They want us to do business differently," McConnnell said.

On taxes, McConnell has his own multi-trillion-dollar bill that would make all the expiring tax cuts a permanent part of the tax code - and increase deficits by nearly $4 trillion over the next decade, according to congressional budget analysts. If McConnell will permit a vote on the Democratic tax bill, Reid said he would "be happy to help arrange" a vote on McConnell's bill as well. Republican aides acknowledged that McConnell's measure also is likely to fail.

"Fixing this problem should be our priority in the limited time remaining this year - not forcing votes on the liberal wish list," McConnell said in a statement.

That leaves both sides back where they started earlier this week: awaiting a bipartisan meeting of the minds at the White House, now set for Nov. 30. ugg boots for sale

2010年11月16日星期二

'Beginning of the end' at London premiere of 'Harry Potter'

It was fitting that the premiere for the darkest movie in the Harry Potter series would take place on a bone-chilling, rainy night.uggs on sale
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 is the penultimate film, covering roughly the first half of J.K. Rowling's final book in the stupendously popular series of novels. The book was divided into two films. This one comes out Nov. 19, and the last film will be in theaters July 15.

In Leicester Square, where the film premiered, there was much talk about this night ushering in "the beginning of the end."

Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, said he'd heard the phrase too many times. But he remains awed by the number and diversity of fans.

"It's incredible, after 10 years of this, that the franchise still has the power to pack Leicester Square," Radcliffe said amid a wall of cheering sounds.

Adds Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger: "The adrenaline you get from the crowd, it's like being at the top of a roller coaster."

Some die-hard fans had camped out as long as 30 hours just to catch a glimpse of the stars they have been watching for nearly a decade. Some were lucky enough to shake the hands of Radcliffe, Watson and Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley. Some even had their books autographed by Rowling.sale ugg boots

Beckie Brooks of Essex had shared chairs and a tent with fellow fanatics.

"It's like a community with an imaginary campfire," said Brooks.

A pair of 20-year-old Americans studying abroad said they felt compelled to join the crowd, estimated at 7,000 people, because they had grown up with the books and movies.

"It was something I felt I had to do," said Ali Labelle of Orange, Calif.

"I just wish it was better weather," said Ian Lausa. "I can't feel my feet right now. But I just keep telling myself it's going to be worth it."

The two laughed at the previous night's experience: "Except for getting harassed by drunk people last night who tried to sit on our tent, thinking it was a couch, it's been fun," said LaBelle.

And the bitter cold did not seem to affect their collective vocal chords. The air was filled with intermittent piercing screams for nearly three hours — some launched by the sight of the movie trailer that played continuously or the sight of people in Death Eater costumes.

And finally, the screaming became deafening when the first star arrived on the scene — Grint.

Homemade signs read "Accio, Grint," in reference to a spell in the books that is meant to beckon. Another hand-lettered poster read: "Is that a Wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Grint was indeed happy, making his way around the crowd a few times and shaking hands with a broad smile.

"Ron has a lot going on in his head this time," Grint said of his character. "He's kind of jealous and paranoid. And you never really see him get this aggressive. It's a nice change."cheap ugg boots

Watson looked glamorous with her hair cut in a chic pixie style and sporting a vintage, short, black lace dress with feathers by Rafael Lopez for Atelier Mayer. The Brown University student spoke of longing to perform on London's nearby West End (Leicester Square is where half-price tickets are famously sold for plays and musicals) and dropped a hint about her favorite sequence in the movie: a dancing scene that is not in the book.

Julie Walters, who plays Molly Weasley, the mother of the Weasley brood, sounded similar to her maternal character.

"It's fantastic to see them grow up," Walters said.

Tom Felton, who plays the evil Draco Malfoy, looked tanned and relaxed, radically different from his pale, surly alter ego.

"This is the most intense story of the series," he said, adding that Draco "certainly feels like he's out of his depth. Lord Voldemort's in his house, and he's not the most pleasant houseguest."australia ugg boots

Indeed, the worst was saved for last. Ralph Fiennes, who plays the evil Voldemort, was the final star to show up on the red carpet.

Imelda Staunton showed up in the signature pink color of her unctuously sinister character, Dolores Umbridge, and Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the malicious Bellatrix Lestrange, had her hair tousled wildly, with a small red bow askew.

Non-Potter celebs in attendance included Kick-Ass actress Chloe Moretz, Lisa Marie Presley and many of the stars of Britain's ultra-popular musical competition reality show, X Factor.

As the crowds cheered non-stop, Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny Weasley, addressed the huddled masses of fans: "We're making these movies for you."

The first premiere of the series took place in the same venue, Leicester Square's Odeon Theater, almost exactly nine years ago, when the lead actors were ages 11-13. The final film wrapped in July.

"We're kind of adults now," Grint said. "I'm going to miss Hogwarts. It's kind of sad."

Says Watson: "There will be a hole in my heart, which will need to be filled with something else."ugg australia sale

Ruling reserved over Standard jobs

Judgment was reserved in the financial sector trade union Sasbo's urgent bid in the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Thursday to stop Standard Bank from firing staff, a union official said.newest moncler 2010

"The judge reserved judgment until noon tomorrow (Friday)," said Sasbo spokesperson Eugene Ebersohn.

The two parties had earlier tried to resolve the matter through talks, instead of through court action.

Sasbo was seeking an urgent interdict against Standard Bank Group [JSE:SBK] to stop it firing staff and to return to consultations.

Standard Bank had put forward a proposal to extend consultations with the union over the planned retrenchment of 1 145 permanent employees and 600 contract staff in South Africa.moncler jassen 2010

In terms of the proposal, the bank would by Tuesday make available information sought by Sasbo and hold further consultations with the union on November 23.

However, Sasbo argued that it wanted the proposal to include all staff affected by retrenchment. The proposal excluded employees who were already "on deployment".

"They're sitting at home at the moment," said Sasbo counsel Chris Roodt.

He asked the court to order that the bank be forced to comply with the requirements of section 189 of the Labour Relations Act which related to how retrenchments should be carried out when they were made for operational reasons.
'Call Of Duty: Black Ops' Shatters Sales Record
"Call of Duty: Black Ops" brought in $360 million in sales during the first 24 hours of its release, setting a record for video game sales at a time when the industry is slumping. moncler 2011

A sit-down with Jim Christy at Black Hat USA The latest version of the popular franchise easily beat its predecessor and previous record-holder, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," which racked up $310 million in day-one sales, publisher Activision Publishing said Thursday. The sales figures for both games are for North America and the United Kingdom only.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" marks the second consecutive year that the franchise has set a day-one launch record. Released Nov. 9, retailers sold 5.6 million copies of the game in the first 24 hours. In addition, an unprecedented 12,000 retailers held midnight openings to meet demand among got-to-have-it-first fans.

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Bobby Kotick, chief executive of parent Activision Blizzard, said in a statement that the video game is on track to beat last year's five-day global sales record of $550 million for "Modern Warfare 2." More than 25 million gamers play some version of "Call of Duty," connecting with each other through the game's online component.

"Call of Duty" is available for PCs and all the major video game consoles, including the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. The game, first released in October 2003, is also available on handheld consoles, the Apple iPhone and Resarch in Motion's BlackBerry.

The success of "Black Ops" is good news for the video game industry, since software sales help to drive console sales. In September, overall sales of the industry at physical retail stores was down 8% year over year, which followed a 10% drop in August. However, sales for the rest of the year are expected to improve, given the scheduled release of popular games and the release of the Kinect and the Move, motion-sensing add-ons for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, respectively. moncler down jacket

2010年11月1日星期一

Microsoft's Ozzie Memo Urges 'Post-PC' Devices, Services

In a memo, Microsoft executive Ray Ozzie warned that the industry is moving to a post-PC world, and warned Microsoft employees that they must either lead or be pushed aside. Australia Ugg Boots

The memo, entitled "Dawn of a New Day," was dated Oct 28 and posted to Ozzie's personal blog. The memo marked five years after Ozzie arrived at the company, where he penned a similar memocharting the need to launch Internet services.

Ozzie said that memo had helped Microsoft on to success in the cloud, with products like Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Windows Live, and a socially-connected Xbox.

"Our products are now more relevant than ever," Ozzie wrote. "Bing has blossomed and its advertising, social, metadata & real-time analytics capabilities are growing to power every one of our myriad services offerings. Over the years the Windows client expanded its relevance even with the rise of low-cost netbooks. Office expanded its relevance even with a shift toward open data formats & web-based productivity. Our server assets have had greater relevance even with a marked shift toward virtualization & cloud computing." ugg australia sale

Ozzie's latest memo, however, may have much less impact than his previous missive, however. That's because Ozzie said he would step down from his post as chief software architect after an undisclosed amount of of time. Ozzie apparently has no plans after that.

Ozzie's memo acknowledged the reality of "always-on" services like Facebook or Twitter, or Web mail services like Gmail or Hotmail, combined with connected devices like the Boxee Box or Apple TV.

"For the most part, we've grown to perceive of 'computing' as being equated with specific familiar 'artifacts' such as the 'computer', the 'program' that's installed on a computer, and the 'files' that are stored on that computer's 'desktop'. For the majority of users, the PC is largely indistinguishable even from the 'browser' or 'internet'," Ozzie wrote.

"As such, it's difficult for many of us to even imagine that this could ever change."

But change it has, Ozzie wrote.

"As we've begun to embrace today's incredibly powerful app-capable phones and pads into our daily lives, and as we've embraced myriad innovative services & websites, the early adopters among us have decidedly begun to move away from mentally associating our computing activities with the hardware/software artifacts of our past such as PC's, CD-installed programs, desktops, folders & files," Ozzie wrote. Australia sheep boots

"Instead, to cope with the inherent complexity of a world of devices, a world of websites, and a world of apps & personal data that is spread across myriad devices & websites, a simple conceptual model is taking shape that brings it all together," Ozzie added. "We're moving toward a world of 1) cloud-based continuous services that connect us all and do our bidding, and 2) appliance-like connected devices enabling us to interact with those cloud-based services."

Continuous services are "websites and cloud-based agents that we can rely on for more and more of what we do"; connected devices are a "phone / internet companion; their car; a shared public display in the conference room, living room, or hallway wall". Each maintains a connection to the other, with the device itself serving as a gateway for the data stored elsewhere, on a server.

"At first blush, this world of continuous services and connected devices doesn't seem very different than today. But those who build, deploy and manage today's websites understand viscerally that fielding a truly continuous service is incredibly difficult and is only achieved by the most sophisticated high-scale consumer websites," Ozzie wrote. "And those who build and deploy application fabrics targeting connected devices understand how challenging it can be to simply & reliably just 'sync' or 'stream'. To achieve these seemingly simple objectives will require dramatic innovation in human interface, hardware, software and services." botas ugg

Ozzie postulated that "complexity kills," with the PC revolutionizing the mainframe and server world because of its simplicity and approachability. But he also noted that complexity was inevitable with a growing number of apps, sites, and services.

In the future, Ozzie wrote, designers will have to deal with "'connected companions' that we'll wear, we'll carry, we'll use on our desks & walls and the environment all around us. Service-connected devices going far beyond just the 'screen, keyboard and mouse': humanly-natural 'conscious' devices that'll see, recognize, hear & listen to you and what's around you, that'll feel your touch and gestures and movement, that'll detect your proximity to others; that'll sense your location, direction, altitude, temperature, heartbeat & health." ugg outlet store

Microsoft has tried smart gadgets before, most notably the SPOT Watches that the company launched in 2004. But the service quietly fizzled out.