Christmas Wishes 2009 – Fantastic Free Gift . Music Video

Christmas Wishes 2009 – Fantastic Free Gift . Music Video

http://www.web-video-player.com/music-video-christmas/merry-christmas.html

Christmas Wishes and New Year Greetings to Your Friends

How time flies! Christmas 2009 is around the corner and New Year, too! I would like to share with you a fantastic free gift for your family, relatives and friends. It is a sweet music video and it is free. You may send the gift to anyone on the Internet easily when Christmas comes.

Greetings Page: (Ready made wishes to be sent by MSN, Yahoo Messenger, Skype or emails to your friends)

http://www.web-video-player.com/music-video-christmas/merry-christmas.html

Microsoft blocked from selling Word

Microsoft blocked from selling Word

13 August 2009 0:51 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz 3 comments

In a giant decision today, a federal district court judge has ruled against Microsoft, and told the software company it must stop selling the extremely popular Word word processing software in the United States.

The victor company, i4i, has only 30 employees but claims Microsoft violated a patent pertaining to Extensible Markup Language (XML). The judge agreed.

Microsoft has 60 days to appeal, or cease selling Word, a key component of the Office bundle. The company was also fined $290 million USD. Microsoft says Office accounts for over $3 billion USD in sales per year.

"It's not a question of fear or pride or anything else," added Loudon Owen, i4i chairman, via USA Today. "We're very respectful of Microsoft, but when you're in the right you have to persevere."

Microsoft will obviously appeal.

"We are disappointed by the court's ruling," says Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz. "We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid."

i4i has the patent for "customized XML," which has been the default format for Word files since the 2007 edition. If the ruling stands, Microsoft would not be allowed to sell the 2003 or 2007 editions.

Facebook Soups Up Search

Facebook Soups Up Search
Everybody's favorite waste of time is adding a new source of distraction: Facebook is upgrading its search tool to find far more of the content generated by the sprawling social network's 250-million-plus users.
The new search, as outlined in this post on Facebook's blog, encompasses not just the massive social network's more-or-less fixed landmarks--the personal profiles of friends, family members and random acquaintances; public pages by companies, organizations and public figures; groups set up to discuss one thing or another; and all those ridiculous applications you can add to your own profile--but most of its more transient fare:
You now will be able to search the last 30 days of your News Feed for status updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared by your friends and the Facebook Pages of which you're a fan. If people have chosen to make their content available to everyone, you also will be able to search for their status updates, links and notes, regardless of whether or not you are friends.
About the only content that that the new search doesn't seem to cover is comments on updates, notes and photos or videos. So what's it good for? For one thing, this tool makes it easier to ego-surf. Type in your name, click the "Posts by Everyone" link in the left-hand column, and see all the strangers who have been chattering about you in their public posts... which in my case, amounts to all of one person.
Ahem.
But the new search can also help you catch up on chatter you might have missed. For example, when I limited my solipsistic query to updates by friends, I discovered that an old neighbor had noticed my quoting a song lyric in a status update, knew the song's author and called that to his attention on his own profile. That's kind of cool.
Like Twitter's search, Facebook's works in real time--I don't see any real lag between somebody posting something and those words showing up in a search. That, coupled with Facebook's acquisition of the Twitter-esque social-media site FriendFeed yesterday, has some industry observers seeing this move as Facebook's latest attempt to thwart Twitter's growth.
I don't know that a better, faster search will help Facebook in that quest. The fact that by default, you don't need to manage friends lists on Twitter makes that a better way to share your thoughts with the world (note to PR people: you're better off trying to connect with me on Twitter than on Facebook) before you even get into finer points like search tools.
But that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the new search on Facebook. Have you tried it? If so, please post your review in the comments.
var entrycat = 'Digital culture, The Web'
By Rob Pegoraro | August 12, 2009; 11:52 AM ETCategories: Digital culture , The Web Share This: E-Mail | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble Previous: Roku Player Brings MLB.TV to the TV

Some iPhone owners crave freedom to unlock from AT&T

By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
Who really controls your Apple iPhone? If you think you do, think again. AT&T, the U.S. distributor, requires iPhone owners to use its wireless networks exclusively. Those who "jailbreak" their devices and use another carrier void the warranty.
Even if you pay full retail ($500 to $700), you still have to agree to use AT&T's network, or it won't sell you the device. Subsidized iPhones start at $199 but require a two-year service agreement.
As for trying to use your state-of-the-art device to place calls over the Internet, good luck. The iPhone's Skype application works on Wi-Fi but not on AT&T's 3G network. Other iPhone apps work on both. AT&T says the block is justified, because Skype is a direct competitor.
Customers have two choices: They can suck it up and stay with AT&T, or storm the wall. So far, more than 300,000 iPhone owners are now using T-Mobile's network and data plans, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Those scaling the wall include owners of the new iPhone 3G S, which hit retail shelves in mid-June. The sources declined to be named because they aren't authorized to talk publicly about iPhone customers.
The lesson?
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | Federal Communications Commission | T-Mobile | Verizon Communications | BellSouth | Skype | Alltel | Apple Inc. | MCI Inc. | Ameritech | Nynex | Pacific Telesis | U.S. Cellular
"Consumers are craving greater control," says Joel Kelsey, a public policy analyst with Consumers Union. So much, he says, that "they're willing to risk turning their $300-plus investment into a brick."
The problem for consumers: Carrier obsession with customer control is growing. Profit is the driver. As the USA reaches wireless saturation — meaning everybody who wants a cellphone already has one — carriers have to hustle hard to add customers and grow revenue. The USA (population about 300 million) currently has around 270 million cellphone subscribers.
The real pot of gold is mobile data, widely regarded as the next frontier of wireless. That's why carriers are so hot to get their hands on the latest, coolest devices — so they can sell consumers pricey data plans.
To land exclusives, carriers typically pay handset makers a certain amount of money, or subsidy, per device. AT&T, for example, pays Apple more than $300. That's why AT&T's iPhone policies are so tough: It's trying to lock down customers long enough to earn back that money.
But the crush of iPhone jailbreaks is just the beginning of what could become a full-tilt consumer revolt, predicts Sameer Mithal, an independent wireless consultant.
"There's a consumer movement to controlling the service," as well as wireless devices, Mithal says. U.S. "carriers will be very reluctant to make this change," he adds. "But they're not going to have a choice."
Shifts in U.S. lifestyle are a big factor, he says. Currently, about 18% of U.S. households are wireless-only, and the trend is gaining, thanks to souped-up devices such as the iPhone.
Exclusive deals under scrutiny
The iPhone is available on a non-exclusive basis in many countries, including France, Belgium, Italy and Australia. In those markets, consumers can buy the device and use it on any network.
Outside the USA, wireless devices typically aren't subsidized — consumers pay full retail. While devices are more expensive, buyers don't have to lock into long-term contracts. Carrier-imposed bans on applications, such as AT&T's Skype block on the iPhone, are practically unheard of.
Once U.S. consumers get a taste of true wireless freedom, Mithal thinks they'll like it — a lot: "More choice is always better" than less.
The U.S. wireless industry is unregulated, so carriers can do as they wish in terms of prices, devices, service plans, customer policies and more. AT&T, for one, believes an unregulated wireless industry is good for consumers.
The U.S. wireless industry "is a highly competitive market," says Jim Cicconi, head of public policy for AT&T. In most markets, he notes, consumers have their pick of three carriers, at least.
Consumer gripes about AT&T's tough iPhone policies are unfair, he says. The fact that so many people — 2 million in the fourth quarter alone — flocked to AT&T for the iPhone "is ratifying the (exclusive) arrangement" with Apple, he says.
"Consumers have the ultimate option of buying or not buying" an iPhone, he adds. "And the fact is, they're choosing to buy in overwhelming numbers."
Without AT&T's discounts, he says, "The device would be a lot more expensive."
AT&T's position assumes that rivals, given the opportunity, wouldn't charge less for the iPhone, Kelsey notes. Likewise, he says prices on mobile voice and data plans, which start at $70 for iPhone users, might also improve if others were competing.
The Senate Commerce Committee recently held a hearing to explore the impact of exclusive handset deals on consumers. The Federal Communications Commission— whose new chairman, Julius Genachowski, is a confidant of President Obama— is examining the same issue.
The telecom enforcement section at the Justice Department regularly reviews wireless industry practices. But Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to comment on whether a specific investigation is underway.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a letter on Monday, asked the Justice Department to examine handset exclusivity agreements, among other issues.
Rural phone companies, meantime, have asked the FCC to ban, or at least limit, handset exclusives. Historically, exclusives lasted no more than a few months. AT&T has had its exclusive deal with iPhone since it was launched in 2007. Verizon's exclusive on LG's "Chocolate" cellphone runs for the lifetime of the device.
Small carriers don't have enough subscribers or financial clout to land exclusives on the latest devices, says John Rooney, CEO of U.S. Cellular, which has 6.2 million customers. As a result, he says, many are losing customers.
Consumers Union, Free Press and other consumer groups are calling on Congress to step in. Their goal: to end practices such as application blocking and long-term device exclusives that they say limit choice and tamp down competition.
"The time has come for regulation," says Ben Scott, public policy director of Free Press.
The Big Four
Size is part of the problem, Scott says. Thanks to years of megamergers, the U.S. wireless industry is dominated by four giants — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. They control 85% of the market. The bulk — 65% — is controlled by two: AT&T and Verizon.
AT&T is an amalgamation of four Bells — SBC, Ameritech, Pacific Telesis and BellSouth— plus former wireless giant Cingular and long-distance icon AT&T.
Verizon is a patchwork of two Bells —Bell Atlantic and Nynex— plus GTE and long-distance icon MCI (formerly, WorldCom). It recently acquired Alltel, the No. 5 wireless player.
Their Bell-centric makeup means AT&T and Verizon are potent competitors, Kelsey says. Each controls miles of local phone networks that connect to buildings and cell towers. Known as "special-access" lines, they haul mobile data traffic from cell towers to local phone networks.
Without access to those lines, called the "middle mile," Sprint and other rivals couldn't exist.
Special-access lines are unregulated, so AT&T and Verizon can "bleed their competitors for access to them," Kelsey says. Those costs ultimately get passed along to consumers.
Tom Sugrue, vice president of government affairs for T-Mobile, says the issue is manageable in big cities, where alternative providers such as Level 3 help keep prices in check. But in suburbs and smaller markets, where AT&T and Verizon are often the only providers, T-Mobile and other carriers are basically stuck.
"When the supplier is also your major competitor, the problem (of special access) can be acute," he says.
AT&T's Cicconi says rivals can build their own facilities if they don't want to pay AT&T and other carriers. He also says it's unfair to accuse big carriers of price gouging.
Scott and Kelsey say the real problem isn't special access, or even consolidation. It's the lack of regulatory oversight in wireless, which is quickly becoming a fixture in American life.
"Big isn't necessarily bad," Scott says. "But big and completely unregulated is bad."
Locked down and waiting
For locked-down iPhone users, the wait continues.
Peter Tögel, a Web development manager for Clemson University, says he recently asked AT&T to unlock his 2-year-old iPhone. Tögel says he and his wife were going to Australia, and he hoped to use a "SIM" card there so he could get a better rate on data roaming. SIM cards are removable data cards containing subscriber information. They can be swapped out so you can use your phone on any compatible network. AT&T and T-Mobile, for instance, use similar technology standards for their networks.
Since he'd fulfilled his two-year contract obligation, Tögel says he didn't think his request would be a problem.
It was. AT&T said no. Apple, citing AT&T's exclusive arrangement, also said no, he says.
Tögel, a self-described geek, says he's considering jailbreaking his device, "but that's a last resort." He's also considering buying an iPhone in Australia, where it's sold on an unlocked basis.
Tögel says he's not mad at AT&T — he likes the carrier's service. He just wishes AT&T would show a little compassion, particularly when it comes to iPhone customers who have fulfilled their contract obligations.
"I was bound for two years, but after that, please unlock it," he says, offering some advice to AT&T. "I paid my dues. That's all I'm asking."

Russia, US agree nuclear arms cuts in Obama visit

Russia, US agree nuclear arms cuts in Obama visit
By Anna Smolchenko and Stuart Williams – 15 hours ago
MOSCOW(AFP) (AFP) — Russian and US leaders Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama announced agreements on Afghanistan and cutting their nuclear arsenals as they sought a new era in battered relations.
The ex-Cold War foes issued a declaration on replacing a key disarmament treaty -- including figures for major cuts in nuclear warheads -- and clinched a breakthrough deal for US military transit for Afghanistan across Russia.
But as Obama made his first visit to Moscow as president, they still remained divided over US plans to install a missile defence shield in eastern Europe and Moscow's policy towards the pro-Western ex-Soviet state Georgia.
"The president and I agreed that the relationship between Russia and the United States (has suffered) from a sense of drift," Obama said at a joint news conference in the Kremlin with Medvedev.
"We resolved to reset US-Russian relations. Today after less than six months of collaboration (since coming to office) we have done exactly that," he added.
The declaration signed by the presidents pledges to reach a new nuclear arms reduction pact to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Obama said it provides for cuts of "up to a third" from current limitations.
It "commits both parties to a legally binding treaty that will reduce nuclear weapons," the White House said in a statement.
START is due to expire on December 5 but the declaration gave no target date for a renewal, instructing negotiators to complete the work as quickly as possible.
The declaration called for a reduction in the number of nuclear warheads in Russian and US strategic arsenals to between 1,500 and 1,675 within seven years and the number of ballistic missile carriers to between 500-1,100.
The cuts go beyond those levels set in the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) which calls for both countries to reduce the number of deployed warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 on either side by 2012.
"The declared reduction is a real agreement and it suits everyone," said Alexei Malashenko, analyst with the Carnegie Centre in Moscow.
"The Americans have decided to accept Russia as it is. Obama does not have the complexes from the Cold War and does not consider Russia to be an enemy of the United States."
Obama also proposed that the United States host a global nuclear security summit next year and suggested to Medvedev that Russia host a subsequent one in order to draft a new, "reinvigorated" non-proliferation treaty.
"We are seeing a pace of potential proliferation that we have not seen in quite some time," Obama said, pointing to "deep concern about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capability" while "we've already seen North Korea flout its own commitments and international obligations in pursuit of nuclear weapons."
The Afghanistan agreement means Russia has authorised the use of its airspace for the transit of US troops and arms, a major boost for Obama's bid to step up the fight against the Taliban.
The deal permits up to 4,500 military flights per year, or about 12 per day, which can be loaded with troops, firearms, ammunition, military vehicles and spare parts, a senior US official said.
The official said military flights would not be charged air navigation fees and that they would not stop on Russian territory.
Previously Russia had only allowed the United States to ship non-lethal military supplies across its territory by train.
The two sides also signed an agreement to resume bilateral military cooperation suspended last August over Moscow's war in Georgia, an event which sent ties plummeting to a post Cold War low.
But amid the smiles and expressions of goodwill, the US plan to install missile defence facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland -- which Russia says threatens its security -- remained a major sticking point.
"The discussions on missile defence are proceeding with great difficulty because the approaches are very different," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.
Obama expressed hope however that "over time we will have seen that the US and Russian positions can be reconciled" and announced that both sides would step up their joint analysis of missile threats.
He also bluntly repeated the US dissatisfaction with Russia's recognition of two breakaway Georgian regions as independent, stressing Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity "must be respected".
"There are areas where we still disagree... we had a frank discussion on Georgia".
Obama was on Tuesday morning due to meet with Russia's powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a man who he described in the run-up to the summit as having "one foot" in the past of the Cold War.
He did not repeat that comment in the news conference, acknowledging that Putin was one of the "influential" figures he was going to meet and noting that Russia's ruling tandem were "working very effectively together".

Shazam for iPhone

When you hear a song and wonder what it is, Shazam is there with the answer. Hold the iPhone to the music and within seconds Shazam will tell you the artist and the track name. You can use Shazam to identify music anywhere (from radio, TV, movies, or stores), save your tag history, build your own soundtrack, buy music that you hear from iTunes, watch related music videos from YouTube, personalize your tags with photos, and share your tags with friends via Mail.
Note: The "Download Now" link directs you to the iTunes App Store, where you must continue the download process. You must have iTunes installed in order to open the link, and you must have an active iTunes account to download the application. This download may not be available in some countries."



Editor's review of Shazam for iPhone
4.0 stars
"Name that tune"
Reviewed by: CBS Interactive staff
Reviewed on: November 6, 2008
Version reviewed: Shazam for iPhone 1.7

Shazam is an ingenious and free application that can identify the name, album, and artist of a song just by hearing it over your iPhone's microphone. That means you can hold up your iPhone to a song that's playing--on the radio, in a coffeeshop, at a party--and in a matter of seconds, Shazam can often tell you what song you're hearing, along with (if available) the album art, related YouTube videos, and iTunes purchase links. Shazam is surprisingly fast and accurate, but it works best in fairly quiet environments and/or with fairly loud music, and the closer you can get your microphone (on the bottom of your iPhone) towards the source the better. Shazam also doesn't do well with more obscure music, and it only helps with recorded music (i.e., you can't hum a few bars). Shazam keeps track of your "tags" (the songs that you've asked about) and lets you add photos and share your tags via e-mail.

Housewives‘ Dina: I Had Everything to Do with Exposing Danielle’s Past

The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Housewives‘ Dina: I Had Everything to Do with Exposing Danielle’s Past
June 17, 2009

On the explosive season finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Dina Manzo found herself in the middle of a melee after her costar, Danielle Staub, accused her of unearthing an embarrassing book and her sister, Caroline Manzo, took the blame for it. Now, Dina tells PEOPLE that she never denied talking about Staub’s past with friends and family and admits she was part of bringing the book to light. She also talks about what it was like having kids in the room during the fight and how she gets along with her nemesis now — as well as her sister-in-law Jacqueline Laurita. – Brian Orloff




Were you surprised when Danielle brought the book to dinner?Nothing surprises me from her. It was in poor taste. Our kids were there. I guess in watching the show now, I didn’t know how much she exposed her kids to and now I see it. So, it’s not shocking at all that she’d do that in front of her kids. Although it did seem like [my daughter] Lexi was in the room, Lexi was not in the room. I asked her to leave when Teresa asked her children to leave. Whenever I look at that footage and I see her daughters in the background, I just cringe.
What is the root of the tension between the two of you?I’m watching the show now [and] I’m starting to put some pieces together. My thing is right now I’m trying to move forward from it, and I don’t want to rehash anything. It’s hard to watch something that happened a year ago. All the emotions start coming up and everything, and I think I make it very clear in the show that I really run from drama. All I ever wanted was for this girl to leave me alone. I meant no malice toward her. I never wanted to hurt her. I never did anything really to hurt her other than respond to her remarks. And things just got out of control.
At dinner Jacqueline said that you were lying — and that you, not your sister, exposed the book. What did you think of that remark and Caroline taking the blame?I felt bad because it wasn’t like I didn’t do it but [Caroline] did. In hindsight, when I look at the footage, I wish I would have said, “Say what you want, I really don’t care,” because that’s how I felt. I never denied anything. That’s what’s making me mad right now is that it seems like I was lying. I never denied talking about [Danielle] with friends and family. I never denied that I was part of [exposing] the book. I just literally never had the book in my hands. Literally. Like, I never had possession of the book. So how can I go around showing something that was never in my hands? So Jacqueline misunderstood what I was saying. She thought I was saying I never had anything to do with it. But, no, I had everything to do with it.
Are you and Jacqueline talking again?Oh yeah, everything’s cool now. We were at a bad place [during filming] and it wasn’t totally Danielle’s fault. Of course the situation had a lot to do with it. We’re fine now. That’s the most important thing.
You mentioned that Danielle was gossiping about you. What was she saying?Vicious lies. I never wanted to comment on it because it just feeds that bulls–. But let’s think about this for a second: Here’s this woman who obviously holds nothing back. If there was any truth to anything she was thinking or spreading, don’t you think she would have come out with it on the show? It was all mean, untrue gossip that I will never start repeating.
What is your relationship with Danielle like now?Like a business arrangement. We’re civil. And that’s all I ever wanted. There’s no reason for us to love or hate each other. We treat each other like grown women — adults — should treat each other. There’s no reason for hugs or kisses and there’s no reason for backstabbing.
Are you happy with the editing and how you were portrayed on the show?A lot of people who know me are like, “That’s not the Dina I know.” Usually I’m very laid back and I don’t get annoyed but the entire time during filming I was pissed off. It was just an annoying thorn in my side that wouldn’t go away — this Danielle situation. So is that me angry and annoyed? Yeah. But most people never get to see that side of me because I hardly ever get mad.

First summit for emerging giants

The world's newest economic grouping is to hold its first summit in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.
Bric is named after its four member states - emerging giants Brazil, Russia, India and China.
They are expected to put efforts to improve the global economy at the top of the agenda.



The BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes, in Russia, says Bric's main goal is to force the West to give greater recognition to the developing giants.

China is now the world's third biggest economy, while Russia, India and Brazil are catching up with many key European economies.
The term Bric was coined by US investment bank Goldman Sachs which used it to describe the growing power of emerging market economies in 2001.
Its research suggested that the four developing economies could be amongst the world's strongest by 2050.
The meeting in Yekaterinburg, a city some 1,420km (880 miles) east of Moscow, will include presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Hu Jintao of China, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Working together
Analysts say that as the global recession bites, the four Bric nations are showing a growing willingness to work together.
Rory MacFarquhar, a Moscow-based economist at Goldman Sachs, said the significance of the summit would be political rather than economic.

China is now the world's third largest economy
"There is considerable interest, you could say from all (the Bric) countries but Russia in particular, in creating an alternative" to established international organisations, he said.
Both Russia and China have questioned the role of the dollar in the world's economy, leading to speculation that Bric might be considering the creation of a new global reserve currency.



However, on Sunday a Kremlin spokesman said that would not be on the agenda.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Tuesday's meeting would focus more on ways to reform international financial institutions.
His remarks led to a rise in the value of the dollar on international markets.
However, the BBC's business reporter Katie Hunt says that fears that such big holders of dollar assets may be looking to switch from the US currency have unsettled financial markets and US politicians.

EU deal is reached on Guantanamo detainees

The agreement does not specify which nations will take former inmates or how many. It leaves the decision up to each nation. Italy will accept three detainees.
By Sebastian Rotella 6:56 PM PDT, June 15, 2009
Reporting from Madrid -- European Union and U.S. representatives reached an agreement Monday in which European nations can receive inmates cleared for release from the prison at Guantanamo Bay.Separately, President Obama said in Washington that Italy would accept three detainees. He made the announcement after meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the Oval Office.

The EU agreement, announced after a meeting of the 27 European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, repeats previous statements about how Europe and the United States will work together to close Guantanamo. The announcement did not specify which nations would take former inmates or how many. It left the decision up to each nation, many of which oppose taking former prisoners -- especially because of U.S. reluctance to do the same.But European officials said Monday's move is positive because of a U.S. pledge to share all intelligence, including confidential information, on each potential transfer. The United States also has agreed to consider compensating governments for the expense incurred in housing and monitoring former inmates.Intensified talks are expected as U.S diplomats visit nations that are open to helping resettle about 60 detainees who are cleared for release but cannot return to their homelands because of human rights issues.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said he looked forward to working "in a positive sense" with Washington to craft a plan specifying how many inmates Spain would be asked to take, Spanish news reports said.Other nations were more reserved. The British government, which has already accepted 14 returnees, repeated its stance that it would not take more.

At the White House, a Blend of Jazz Greats and Hopefuls

At the White House, a Blend of Jazz Greats and Hopefuls

On Monday afternoon, Michelle Obama invited about 150 high school jazz students to the White House for a program called Jazz Studio. There was a student clinic including five members of the Marsalis family and the clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, and then a short concert introduced by the first lady.
Before some readers begin feeling too righteous, it’s important to know that the event wasn’t a pure, stand-alone expression of love for jazz; it was the first in a series of three very different musical events in the White House this year.

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So if the short afternoon event was largely symbolic for those on the sidelines, quickly and easily establishing the notion that the new administration is interested in musical genres other than country, it was a useful, practical event for the students.
The young musicians were divided into three groups of 50, and the workshop themes were “American History and Jazz,” “Syntax of Jazz,” “The Blues Experience and Jazz” and “Duke Ellington and Swing.” Other workshop leaders included the saxophonist Todd Williams, the trumpeter Sean Jones and the pianist Eli Yamin.
The event was organized in conjunction with the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and several other institutions.
The Marsalises — especially Wynton and his father, Ellis — are born teachers, and, at least during the part of their hourlong clinic that journalists were allowed to watch, they packed important, basic lessons about jazz history and practice into short spaces. The students drank it in, and the teachers beamed.
After the elder Mr. Marsalis talked for a while about individual expression in jazz and the birth of swing rhythm, the students traded 12-bar improvisations with the master musicians on a blues tune. And then Wynton Marsalis doled out bits of advice, without aiming them at particular players. The advice: never slink off looking mad at yourself after your solo, don’t abuse the rhythm section and play shorter.
“The blues forces us to feel vocal elements in our playing,” Mr. Marsalis said, “and it keeps us from going” — here he played a fast, ripping, show-off improvisation that wasn’t vocal at all. “Now, I’m going to play, and Branford is going to imitate.”
The students quickly jumped in. None were virtuosos; some, including a trumpeter from New York, Ivan Rosenberg, were quite good. Perhaps sensing a competitive spirit, Mr. Marsalis pushed Mr. Rosenberg into smeared, highly expressive whines; finally he played a whinnying phrase that trailed into fast, articulated notes. “I can’t do that, man,” Mr. Rosenberg said, laughing and backing off.
Sharing a stage with Wynton Marsalis, who teaches constantly on the road, is not out of the realm of possibility for a gifted young jazz musician. But doing it at the White House can make you starry-eyed.
“That was crazy,” said Phillip Slyde, an able 17-year-old alto saxophonist who played question-and-answer with Mr. D’Rivera. He came up from New Orleans the day before, he said. He was recuperating from nerves, in the expectant hush before Mrs. Obama’s arrival.
Kyle Wedberg, the president of his school, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, appeared behind him. “This says that normal, everyday Americans have a place in this White House, versus people that have some leverage to get in here,” Mr. Wedberg said, breathlessly. “We changed 14 lives today. That’s amazing: it’s a great use of this public facility.”
In her four-minute speech, Mrs. Obama brushed across two well-known thoughts about jazz — that it “may be America’s greatest gift to the world” and that “there is no better example of democracy than a jazz ensemble” — but she basically made way for the closing concert, which put Mr. D’Rivera and Mr. Marsalis in front of a young band, including the pianist Tony Madruga and the saxophonist Elijah Easton.
Mr. D’Rivera played embroidered versions of famous jazz melodies on the clarinet, encouraging the student audience to guess their titles and composers. When he played a famous Dizzy Gillespie phrase, the audience — including Mrs. Obama, seated in the front row with her daughters — answered promptly with the correct response: “Salt peanuts, salt peanuts.” “Ahhh!” Mr. D’Rivera shouted, looking extremely pleased. “Michelle knows it!”
The next event in the White House music series, with details to be announced later in the summer, will focus on country music.
Next Article in Arts (6 of 17) » A version of this article appeared in print on June 16, 2009, on page A14 of the New York edition.

Kendra Wilkinson is pregnant!

Kendra Wilkinson of “The Girls Next Door” and “Kendra” fame is preggers! “Hank (Baskett) and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our first child together. We are touched by the outpouring of support by our family, friends and fans,” the reality star told E! News. “So the rumors are true. . . .I am pregnant! Hank and I were beyond excited when we found out the news and I’ve been dying to tell all of you but we were waiting for the perfect time to do it,” she wrote on her own blog yesterday. Baskett, 26, and Wilkinson, 23, have been engaged since November and plan to wed June 27th at the Playboy mansion.

US envoy sees Pakistan backlash

The envoy said that problems facing displaced people were 'overwhelming'
US envoy Richard Holbrooke has said that the public mood in Pakistan is swinging against the militants towards the government.
Mr Holbrooke, who recently returned to the US from Pakistan, told reporters about the "growing consensus" of the need to face down insurgents.
But he also said that Pakistan was in the throes of a major refugee crisis.
More than two million people have been displaced because of the army's offensive in Pakistan's Swat valley.
Mr Holbrooke, who toured refugee camps in the north-west of the country, called the situation there a "major, major crisis" and said people should be allowed return home as soon as possible.
He added that the camps should not be allowed to become permanent.
But he insisted that the army's offensive had the support of the Pakistani public.
Mr Holbrooke said that "outrages perpetrated by the Taliban" such as Tuesday's bombing of the Pearl Hotel in Peshawar which killed at least 18 people, were resulting in a dramatic change in attitudes.
Letter to India
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington said that US officials and politicians have long expressed the concern that the fight against extremism in the region does not have whole-hearted support of Pakistan's government and people.
However Mr Holbrooke said his conversations with senior Pakistani military officers had assured him of their clear strategy in the battle against the militants.
In recent days the Pakistani army has been targeting militants on a variety of fronts in the north-west of the country. Apart from the ongoing offensive in the Swat valley, the army has been bombarding positions in the semi-tribal areas around North Waziristan.
Separately, Mr Holbrooke said that the US Undersecretary of State William Burns had handed India a letter from President Barack Obama.
"This administration believes that what happens in Afghanistan and Pakistan is of vital interest to our national security, and .. that India is a country that we must keep in closest consultation with," he said.
He declined to divulge the contents of the letter.

Frustration, distress over Google outage

Millions of people got a taste of life without Google on Thursday after its search engine, e-mail and other products slowed or became inaccessible because of a glitch.
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The outage, which lasted nearly two hours, prompted a wave of distress and frustration among users, highlighting just how dependent they are on the Internet giant's ubiquitous services.
It was also an embarrassing failure for Google, which casts itself as a technological dynamo and markets many of its products for their dependability. The failure, combined with previous ones this year, prompted some people to reconsider relying on just one company for so much of their online activity.
Google said the problems started at 7:48 a.m., when a systems error caused a portion of its online traffic to be rerouted through Asia. The snafu prompted an online traffic jam, slowing or interrupting service for 14 percent of Google users globally.
Urs Hoelzle, senior vice president of operations, likened the problem in a blog post to airplanes being rerouted to a different airport and forced to wait in a holding pattern before landing.
"We've been working hard to make our services ultra-fast and 'always on,' so it's especially embarrassing when a glitch like this one happens," he said.
Panic set in with some users, who discovered they couldn't get access to their e-mails, fearful that urgent messages were being missed. Companies that store their documents online with Google suddenly found they couldn't access them, raising fears their work was lost.
Francisco Lopez, an administrative assistant for a public relations company in Redwood City, said he came into work in the morning and was unable to log in to his Google e-mail, after fruitlessly trying four or five times. The delay lasted about an hour, he said, leaving him scrambling to do his job.
Meanwhile, Lopez said he tried to use Google to find images and company addresses for his boss, who was similarly sidelined from Google. Frustrated with the slowness, Lopez surrendered and gave a Google rival a try.
"We were worried, and I said, 'Let's try Yahoo' - and it worked," he said.
Google's troubles got a big airing online as users vented. The topic was among the most popular on Twitter, the micro-blogging service, where people posted things like "Google's down and the world stops ... Scary" and "Uh oh, Google is having issues. Let Internet calamity ensue."
Google is the most dominant Internet company, with a 63.7 percent U.S. search market share, according to comScore Inc. Its success has drawn the attention of federal regulators, who have looked at the company on several fronts.
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a digital rights group that has long said Google needs more antitrust scrutiny, said Thursday's outage and the inconveniences it caused to users underscore that the company is "the leading digital public utility" and that it "behooves policy-makers to look more intensively into its operations."
Google suffered two other high-profile outages this year, including one in which all search results were inaccessible for an hour because they were misidentified as sources of computer viruses. In another instance, Google's e-mail was inaccessible for 2 1/2 hours because of a problem with a data center.
In recent years, Google has marketed to companies the use of its online products, such as e-mail and documents, as an alternative to desktop software. But these outages could persuade potential customers to keep the technology in-house rather than paying Google to take care of it.
Andrew Kovacs, a Google spokesman, acknowledged outages like Thursday's attract a lot of attention. However, "cloud computing," as the online software is generically known, is more reliable than companies operating their own data centers.
Ken Godskind, chief strategy officer for AlertSite, a Fort Lauderdale software company that helps customers keep their Web sites online, said he was using the paid corporate version of Google's e-mail and calender when the outage hit, raising his frustrations. He ended up spending an hour to do three minutes of work, he said.
Still, Godskind said he will continue to pay for Google's products. Because of the nature of technology, whether it's Google's or someone else's, he said, "You're going to get bitten by the beast."
E-mail Verne Kopytoff at vkopytoff@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2329780200400202691

Powell aide says torture helped build Iraq war case

(CNN) -- Finding a "smoking gun" linking Iraq and al Qaeda became the main purpose of the abusive interrogation program the Bush administration authorized in 2002, a former State Department official told CNN on Thursday.

Dick Cheney's office ordered use of "alternative" techniques against CIA's recommendations, aide says.

The allegation was included in an online broadside aimed at former Vice President Dick Cheney by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. In it, Wilkerson wrote that the interrogation program began in April and May of 2002, and then-Vice President Cheney's office kept close tabs on the questioning.
"Its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at preempting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al Qaeda," Wilkerson wrote in The Washington Note, an online political journal.
Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, said his accusation is based on information from current and former officials. He said he has been "relentlessly digging" since 2004, when Powell asked him to look into the scandal surrounding the treatment of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
"I couldn't walk into a courtroom and prove this to anybody, but I'm pretty sure it's fairly accurate," he told CNN.
Most of Wilkerson's online essay criticizes Cheney's recent defense of the "alternative" interrogation techniques the Bush administration authorized for use against suspected terrorists. Cheney has argued the interrogation program was legal and effective in preventing further attacks on Americans.
Critics say the tactics amounted to the illegal torture of prisoners in U.S. custody and have called for investigations of those who authorized them.
Representatives of the former vice president declined comment on Wilkerson's allegations. But Wilkerson told CNN that by early 2002, U.S. officials had decided that "we had al Qaeda pretty much on the run."
"The priority had turned to other purposes, and one of those purposes was to find substantial contacts between al Qaeda and Baghdad," he said.
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The argument that Iraq could have provided weapons of mass destruction to terrorists such as al Qaeda was a key element of the Bush administration's case for the March 2003 invasion. But after the invasion, Iraq was found to have dismantled its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, and the independent commission that investigated the 2001 attacks found no evidence of a collaborative relationship between the two entities.
Wilkerson wrote that in one case, the CIA told Cheney's office that a prisoner under its interrogation program was now "compliant," meaning agents recommended the use of "alternative" techniques should stop.
At that point, "The VP's office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods," Wilkerson wrote.
"The detainee had not revealed any al Qaeda-Baghdad contacts yet. This ceased only after Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, under waterboarding in Egypt, 'revealed' such contacts."
Al-Libi's claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's government had trained al Qaeda operatives in producing chemical and biological weapons appeared in the October 2002 speech then-President Bush gave when pushing Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. It also was part of Powell's February 2003 presentation to the United Nations on the case for war, a speech Powell has called a "blot" on his record.
Al-Libi later recanted the claim, saying it was made under torture by Egyptian intelligence agents, a claim Egypt denies. He died last week in a Libyan prison, reportedly a suicide, Human Rights Watch reported.
Stacy Sullivan, a counterterrorism adviser for the U.S.-based group, called al-Libi's allegation "pivotal" to the Bush administration's case for war, as it connected Baghdad to the terrorist organization behind the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
And an Army psychiatrist assigned to support questioning of suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba told the service's inspector-general that interrogators there were trying to connect al Qaeda and Iraq.
"This is my opinion," Maj. Paul Burney told the inspector-general's office. "Even though they were giving information and some of it was useful, while we were there a large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between aI Qaeda and Iraq and we were not being successful in establishing a link between aI Qaeda and Iraq. The more frustrated people got in not being able to establish this link ... there was more and more pressure to resort to measures that might produce more immediate results."
Burney's account was included in a Senate Armed Services Committee report released in April. Other interrogators reported pressure to produce intelligence "but did not recall pressure to identify links between Iraq and al Qaeda," the Senate report states.
Cheney criticized Powell during a television interview over the weekend, saying he no longer considers Powell a fellow Republican after his former colleague endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
Wilkerson said he is not speaking for his former boss and does not know whether Powell shares his views.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/iraq.torture/

How owners of GM, Chrysler vehicles could be affected

"When all of these relationships are disrupted, you can't help but have some elements of chaos, and some practical problems occur," said Aaron H. Jacoby, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents car dealers.Here are some issues GM and Chrysler customers may face:Manufacturer warranties: These are the warranties that are included in the price of a vehicle and cover specified repairs for a specific period of time -- three years or 36,000 miles, for instance. They're backed by the manufacturer, not the dealer, and are good at any of the manufacturer-licensed dealers.
GM and Chrysler have both pledged to stand behind their warranties.But consumers still could face a long drive to the nearest authorized dealer. And customers who have a long-standing relationship with a particular customer service manager may find themselves at the mercy of one who is less attuned to their interests, notes Philip Reed, senior consumer advice editor at auto website Edmunds.com.Warranty complaints should be directed to the manufacturer or the state New Motor Vehicle Board.Extended service agreements: These go by many names, often vehicle service contracts or extended warranties, but the bottom line is generally the same: For an additional charge, the contract pays if certain things go wrong with the vehicle for a set period of time -- usually after the manufacturer's warranty runs out.These contracts typically are backed by a third party -- known as a vehicle service contract provider -- or by the manufacturer. If backed by Chrysler, the automaker said, its other dealers will honor the contract. If backed by a contract provider, Chrysler said, the vehicle owner should check the contract for information on where to go for repairs.California law requires that such contracts include an insurance policy. If problems arise over the contract, car owners should contact the insurer. Written complaints also can be sent to the state Department of Insurance.Unpaid liens on trade-ins: When a car buyer trades in a vehicle with an outstanding loan balance, the dealer is supposed to pay off the loan as part of the transaction. But as dealerships have closed during the recent collapse in auto sales, many of them didn't pay off the loans.In these cases, consumers are still liable for the original loan and can end up with two monthly payments -- one on the car just bought and a second on the car traded in. And if the trade-in vehicle is resold before the loan is paid off, the new owner of the used car won't be able to get a title from the state -- and, legally, won't be able to drive the vehicle.A 2007 state law authorized a $5-million fund to reimburse victims of unpaid car liens, as well as license and registration fees paid but never forwarded to the state.Most franchised new-car dealers that go out of business don't have this problem. But the Consumer Motor Vehicle Recovery Corp., the nonprofit agency that oversees the fund, is bracing for an influx of claims as dozens of Chrysler and GM dealerships close in California.The fund just got off the ground this year, and Ron Reiter and his fellow board members are scrambling to hire staff and administrators. That may create delays in clearing claims, Reiter said, and may also cause payments to be held up if the fund is depleted and has to be replenished. It's funded by assessments on car dealers.The agency doesn't have a website yet, but claims can be filed by filling out and mailing a form on the Department of Motor Vehicles’ website.Vehicle repair history: Failing to perform recommended service can invalidate a warranty -- and lacking the records to prove the services were performed can have the same result.Maintenance records should be transferred when a dealership closes, but don't count on it. Car owners who haven't kept their own vehicle repair records should get copies while their dealer's doors are still open, said Pat Goss of Carchex, a provider of consumer automotive services."Paperwork can easily fall through the cracks," Goss said. "Even one item missing or one page corrupted could be serious trouble in trying to prove a warranty claim in the future."Financing: Financing arrangements should not be affected by the dealer closings.Sales perks: If a dealer promised a special incentive -- such as a year's worth of free car washes -- and then closed its doors before fulfilling the bargain, other dealers aren't obligated to provide the service.Buying a new car from a dealer that's going out of business: Because Chrysler and GM have pledged to stand behind their warranties, it could be a good time to hunt for bargains as dealers try to unload inventory. The vehicle can be taken to another dealer for warranty repairs if necessary.But experts note that prices already have been slashed to the bone to cope with the current sales slump, so some dealers may be unwilling to cut prices as much as some buyers expect."You should be able to get a good car at a damn good price," Reed of Edmunds.com said. "But you can't just pick a number out of a hat and expect them to take it."In addition, with sticker prices already low, buyers need to be wary of aggressive attempts to get them to buy pricey add-ons, such as extended warranties or fabric protection, he said. And with so much unsold inventory sitting on dealer lots, buyers need to make sure that the car they think is a 2009 model isn't actually a leftover 2008, Reed said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-consumer-dealers15-2009may15,0,7204536.story

UPDATE 3-Intel sees order and margin improvement, shares up

CEO: Q2 orders, billing patterns better than expected
* CEO: Q2 depends on June but 'so far, so good'
* Shares up 2.8 pct to $15.64 in extended trading (Adds details on gross margins, new products, analyst comment)
By Clare Baldwin and Alexei Oreskovic
SANTA CLARA, California, May 12 (Reuters) - Intel Corp's (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) orders and billing patterns so far in the second quarter have been slightly better than expected, the chief executive of the world's largest chip maker said on Tuesday.
Paul Otellini told investors second-quarter sales depend on how they fare in June but "so far, so good" -- in remarks that sent Intel's shares up as much as 4 percent in extended trading.
"We are halfway through Q2," he said. "In terms of our order pattern and our billing pattern, it's a little better than expected."
Intel, which controls 80 percent of the microprocessor market, is seen as a bellwether for the personal computer and technology industry. But it has struggled in the economic downturn, shutting plants and trimming 1,400 jobs since the fourth quarter.
Intel executives also said on Tuesday gross profit margins should return to "normal" levels, which it defined as between 50 percent and 60 percent, in the next several quarters.
Margins for the Atom chips used in a new generation of low-priced netbook computers, will be above 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the company said.
In the first quarter, Intel's overall gross margin dipped to 45.6 percent, from 53.1 percent in the fourth quarter, and investors have been worried the popularity of low-cost Atom-based notebooks could squeeze the company's profit margins.
Doug Freedman, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech, said the details on margin expectations were a relief to investors.
Otellini would not comment on the pending European Union antitrust investigation, which is expected to issue a ruling against Intel on Wednesday. [ID:nLA487575]
"On the EU rumors, they're just that, rumors," Otellini said in response to a question.
"When they are anything but a rumor, I can assure you we will comment."
Last month, Otellini said the worst was over for the battered tech sector as Intel reported its first-quarter earnings, but its shares slid as executives said economic uncertainty prevented them from giving a detailed outlook.
Otellini said on Tuesday Intel should end the year with around 78,000 employees, down about 25 percent from a peak of 103,000 in 2006.
Intel has said it expects second-quarter revenue to be flat with the $7.1 billion reported in the first quarter. But some analysts said the outlook was conservative, and Reuters Estimates showed analysts expecting a slight increase in each quarter for a year-end total of $30.3 billion.

But that would still be more than $7 billion less than last year's revenue, with earnings per share seen falling more than 40 percent to 53 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Shares in the Santa Clara, California-based Intel rose to $15.64 in extended trading, up 2.8 percent from their Nasdaq close of $15.21.
UTILISATION RATES
Analysts say Intel's biggest concern is filling its factories. About 6 percentage points of the gross margin drop that Intel experienced in the first quarter came from factory under-utilization charges, Intel has said.
But research from iSuppli last week showed demand for portable phones and computers may cause factories to run closer to capacity. Chip plants, which ran at less than half their capacity in the first quarter of 2009, should operate at three-quarter capacity by the fourth quarter, iSuppli said.
Intel's finance chief said on Tuesday factory utilization hit an all-time low of 40 percent in the first quarter, but should return to normal levels in the second half of the year.
Intel said corporate demand for PCs remains weak, but consumer demand is holding up, and executives said they expected a "seasonal" second half of the year.
Sales chief Sean Maloney said a new generation of processors designed for ultra-thin notebook PCs, and the upcoming release of the Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Windows 7 operating system, would boost demand for new PCs.
Intel did not talk much about its forthcoming graphics chip, dubbed Larabee, though Otellini said the product will "not ship for sale to an end user this year." (Reporting by Clare Baldwin and Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Richard Chang)

'Global Warming' No Longer Part of President Obama's Agenda?

This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," May 11, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GLENN BECK, HOST: So I'm a complete — I mean, you might have noticed this — I am complete and total rookie at this whole TV thing. And I went down to the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday I couldn't — I felt like I had to shower afterwards. I've got get clean. I just can't get clean.
Anyway, you know, it made me think over the weekend — gosh, you know, the president has made all kinds of promises. And they have come true, almost every single one of them — hope and change. Yes. Watch this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I don't think that engaging in constant partisan bickering solves our problems.
OBAMA: We're up against decades of bitter partisanship.
OBAMA: Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WANDA SYKES, COMEDIAN: I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker but he was so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight.
SYKES: "I hope the country fails" — I hope his kidneys fail, how about that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: I have to tell you, you know, there is one thing to say something on television or whatever — I mean, that's just what comedians do. I have to tell you, sitting in the room with the president of the United States — I mean, I didn't — I told you last week I would wear these shoes, you know, these ones — and I didn't. And the reason I didn't — I could blame it on my wife and my wife said, "You're not wearing those shoes."

Video: Watch Beck's interview
The reason why I didn't is because he is the president of the United States. And there is some kind of decorum that happens.
The things that even he said and Wanda Sykes said might be funny in some scenarios — not that. It kind of sounded like bitter partisanship to me.
But there is one thing that is changing and that is global warming. We may see the end of global warming, you know. I mean, not global warming is not going to end, there's still going — but the phrase "global warming" is.
President Obama's Council on Environmental Quality is reportedly meeting with a marketing group today, a group that says phrases like "global warming" and "cap and trade" are just not effective. Change the language. Don't actually change anything. Just say you're going to change things. Those words are too politicized. They conjure up images of Al Gore.
Last week we talked about the Republican listening tour and I told you we are being focus grouped to death. Stop. Both parties, stop it. Just say what you mean and mean what you say. Well, now the L.A. Times reports the pollster, the Mellon Group, recently shared a survey with the White House that says people are interested in curbing global warming if it creates jobs.
Sound familiar?
Do you remember this from the election:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If I'm president, I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy. We will create 5 million new clean energy jobs over the next decade —
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
Jobs that pay well. Jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. We're going to open up those closed factories, those factories that used to make steel — they are going to make wind turbines. Auto factories — they're going to make solar panels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Solar panels that are poisoning people now in China and wind turbines — oh, my gosh — wind turbines sold by General Electric — weird.
Anyway, global warming is not the only change Washington — has become a war of words now. All this week, we are doing an Inconvenient Segment, talking about real solutions to some of the world's biggest problems from an inconvenient book, now available in paperback.
I have to tell you, political correctness could be the biggest problem this country is facing, because we are not talking to each other anymore and actually speaking frankly. And that's what needs to happen. For more answers on the real solution, get the book.
But for now, we have Andrew Breitbart. He is the publisher of Big Hollywood and a columnist with The Washington Times.
Andrew, I can't take the changing of the language anymore. This is craziness.
ANDREW BREITBART, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Well, I'm so glad that you are noticing that this is the big issue of the Obama administration. Obama is the graduate of the George Lakoff School of Word Maneuvering — he's the professor from Berkeley.
And he is just like Frank Luntz, and God bless Frank Luntz. He's a friend of mine, but I think that the American people, at a time of tumult, of economic crisis, want straight language from people and the propaganda that comes from the administration and is pushed off by MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times before we even have a lexicon of what these words mean. They're just mind numbing.
BECK: OK. Here is the real problem as I see — it's causing us not to deal with actual issues. You want to talk about global warming? Great, let's talk about global warming. But now, they're not. Now, because we know that's bull crap — now we're going into creating new clean — not green — clean jobs, which has that nice fuzzy sound to it, but isn't the same issue. We're no longer even talking about the same issue. And there is another thing. Have you read "Animal Spirits" yet?
BREITBART: I'm reading it right now. Books on tape. Right in my ear.
BECK: Can you — I mean, we'll have the authors of "Animal Spirits" on the program later on this week. When you are listening to it or reading it, Andrew, are you saying, "Oh, my gosh. I see exactly what they're doing right now"?
BREITBART: Well, they can only get away with it if the media lets them get away with it. And that's the huge problem — is that at the same time that they're changing language and they're playing off of our fear, the mainstream media is letting them get along with it. And for a very brief period —
BECK: Go ahead. Go ahead. I don't mean to interrupt.
BREITBART: No. I mean, you just saw — you saw that. You played the segment with Wanda Sykes. Who dictated that Rush Limbaugh have a target on his head? But Rush Limbaugh — the first week of this administration, these people — when Obama says jump, the media says, "How high?"
And they have targeted the people who would question this language and say that we're enemies of the state. So while they're creating euphemisms to make our real enemies in the world — like terrorists— seem like they're mollified, decent people, they're isolating ex-vets, Rush Limbaugh and elevating the language. It is an anti-euphemism. They're making —
BECK: How long does this last, Andrew? I mean, at some point, you run out of words. I mean, look, global warming is global warming. I mean, it could — a wheel is a wheel because we call it a wheel. You can call it a horn, but it eventually becomes a wheel.
So is a lie is a lie is a lie.
At what point do we go, "Wait a minute. This is — you've changed this word. It's the same meaning from like three different things. You just keep changing the word."
BECK: Well, thank you for what you are doing, because from the word "go," it has been political correctness. And I can't even talk about the stimulus and my problems with it, because the language is framed by people who have changed words.
BECK: Yes.
BREITBART: And the average person at a cocktail party doesn't even know what TARP is or knows what stimulus is versus taxation or investment being taxation. It will probably be six months and all of the spending out before people actually understand the issues that were just played out.
BECK: Yes. OK, Andrew, thank you so much. I appreciate it. We will talk again.
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