AP - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Monday he supports the extension of payroll tax cuts, a proposal President Barack Obama is championing.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Romney says he supports payroll tax cut (AP)
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Wreaths headed to Arlington National Cemetery
By Clarke Canfield, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine -- Twenty years ago, wreath company owner Morrill Worcester and a dozen other people laid 5,000 wreaths on headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. It was Worcester's way of giving thanks to the nation's veterans with leftover unsold wreaths.
This year, Worcester has arranged for up to 100,000 wreaths to be placed on gravesites at the military cemetery Dec. 10 in his biggest wreath-laying undertaking yet.
A convoy of more than 20 trucks left Worcester Wreath Co. in the eastern Maine town of Harrington on Sunday to begin the six-day journey to the cemetery in Arlington, Va., outside Washington, the final resting place for hundreds of thousands of veterans and a tourist site that draws 4 million visitors a year. Along the way, there'll be ceremonies at schools, veterans' homes and in communities in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.
Worcester never expected the wreath-laying effort to grow from a single tractor-trailer carrying a few thousand wreaths to 84 big rigs delivering wreaths to Arlington and hundreds of locations. Besides the Arlington ceremony, his Wreaths Across America organization has also organized more than 700 other ceremonies at veterans' cemeteries and monuments across the country and overseas involving 225,000 wreaths.
"We haven't really tried to push it; it's really just grown on its own," Worcester said. "We have a hard time keeping up with it."
Worcester, who has never served in the military, came up with the idea of a wreath-laying ceremony 20 years ago when he found himself with an extra 5,000 wreaths in December, too late to bring to market. He decided upon Arlington National Cemetery, which he had visited as a child.
After that first year, Worcester continued donating wreaths and holding ceremonies at the cemetery. The event remained relatively small with little fanfare until a photo, showing thousands of green wreaths with red ribbons nestled against headstone on a snow-covered ground, made its way around the Internet about five years ago.
After that, Worcester got thousands of emails and letters from people wanting to donate, and inquiries from others asking how they could hold wreath-laying ceremonies of their own to pay tribute to those who have served in the military. So he and his wife founded the nonprofit Wreaths Across America to take in donations and organize hundreds of wreath-laying ceremonies at veterans' cemeteries.
Wreaths Across America put 24,000 wreaths on Arlington headstones last year, and initially hoped to put them on virtually all 220,000 headstones this year. That initiative fell short, but Worcester said he's still pleased that they'll be able to put out 100,000 of the laurels.
Of the 325,000 wreaths in all of this year's ceremonies, Worcester is donating 25,000. His company makes the rest, but they are paid for through donations from groups and individuals and through corporate sponsorships.
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Napolitano says lone wolf terror threat growing (AP)
PARIS ? U.S. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano says the risk of "lone wolf" attackers is on the rise as the global terrorist threat has shifted in recent years.
Napolitano is also warning about the need to keep dangerous travelers from reaching the United States and urging European partners to finalize a deal on sharing passenger data.
Napolitano, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the agreement is needed to "make sure these global networks and global systems that we all rely on remain safe." She spoke on a visit to Paris focused on international security cooperation.
Noting current threats to the United States, she singled out al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and "the growth of the lone wolf," a single attacker not part of a larger conspiracy or network.
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'Dark Knight Rises' Prologue Debate Gets 'Nerdy'
In this week's 'Talk Nerdy to Me,' the team tackles the Batman prologue, the latest 'Ender's Game' casting and more.
By Josh Wigler
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures
After a weeklong hiatus, "Talk Nerdy to Me" is back in action with all of your comic book, movie and TV needs. From today's official announcement of the "Dark Knight Rises" prologue to a special cameo from Daniel Day-Lewis' Abraham Lincoln beard, this week's "Talk Nerdy" has it all. Keep reading for a taste of what you'll see this week, and watch the episode in the video below!
"Dark Knight" Prologue Confirmed
Now that the news is official, the Talk Nerdy team is left wondering what Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Rises" prologue might entail. Are we in store for a "Batman Begins"-inspired montage? Might we see the death of a popular character from the Caped Crusader's supporting cast? We floated a few of our own theories, however ridiculous, in this week's episode.
"Ender's" Cast
The wheels are most certainly in motion for "Ender's Game," director Gavin Hood's big-screen adaptation of the beloved Orson Scott Card novel. "Hugo" star Asa Butterfield has been confirmed to play the titular Ender, and there are talks of "True Grit" actress Hailee Steinfeld and the legendary Harrison Ford joining the cast as well. Great actors, to be sure, but are they the right ones for the project? Find out what Nerdy's Brian Phares thinks about the upcoming project.
The "Game of Thrones" Blu's
When you play the "Game of Thrones," you win or you die. But when it comes to the HBO fantasy show's upcoming Blu-ray collection, it looks like we're all going to win. The Blu-ray was announced earlier this week, and the details are bound to have fans of the franchise foaming at the mouth. The Nerdy team geeked out over the upcoming collection, especially the announced "Creating the Dothraki Language" feature.
Spider-Leak, Spider-Leak
The weekend box office is dry in terms of new wide releases, so we recommend you just go ahead and see "The Muppets" again. It's that good! In lieu of our normal box-office report, this week's Talk Nerdy focused on the infamous "Amazing Spider-Man" Lizard leak from earlier in the week. Needless to say, the team was not impressed.
Tell us what you thought of this week's Talk Nerdy in the comments section!
Check out everything we've got on "The Dark Knight Rises."
For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.
Related Videos Related PhotosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675326/dark-knight-rises-prologue-confirmed.jhtml
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
A glimmer of good news for Obama in jobs report
President Barack Obama gestures while speaking in a building under construction in Washington, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, part of his Better Building Initiative to promote energy efficient buildings. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama gestures while speaking in a building under construction in Washington, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, part of his Better Building Initiative to promote energy efficient buildings. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama listens while touring a building under construction in Washington, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, part of his Better Building Initiative to promote energy efficient buildings. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Finally, a flicker of economic hope for President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats, even if it's a faint one.
November's sharp drop in the unemployment rate shows that jobs are finally moving in the right direction and suggests the economy is on firmer footing as the country heads into a presidential election year.
The Labor Department reported the jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent in November from 9 percent the month before, a 2? year low.
That's still high unemployment by historical standards. And lots of problems still lurk ? from Europe's debt crisis to congressional gridlock to the tens of millions of Americans still out of work or otherwise feeling economic distress. Furthermore, part of the improvement came because 300,000 people stopped their job searches and were no longer counted as unemployed.
But Friday's report, combined with other recent economic data showing advances in manufacturing and consumer spending, could give Obama momentum for the re-election campaign.
The White House and congressional Democrats were quiet in showing any enthusiasm they might have felt, instead using the new figures to step up criticism of anti-tax Republicans for blocking measures they said could help create even more jobs. Those include an extension of an expiring Social Security payroll tax cut that largely benefits the middle class.
"The unemployment rate went down," Obama said. "And despite some strong headwinds this year, the American economy has now created in the private sector jobs for the past 21 months in a row. That's nearly 3 million new jobs in all, and more than half a million over the last four months."
Said House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut: "Today's unemployment numbers, while encouraging, simply underscore the urgency for Congress to address the top issue facing American families? jobs."
Republicans were publicly unimpressed with the jobs report, insisting Obama hadn't done enough and emphasizing that the jobless rate was still higher than when he took office in January 2009, when it stood at 7.7 percent.
"Any job creation is welcome news, but the jobless rate in this country is still unacceptable. Today marks the 34th consecutive month of unemployment above 8 percent," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
That view was echoed on the campaign trail.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in a Fox News interview, acknowledged that the report was good news but said it wouldn't help Obama politically. "This is the slowest recovery we've seen since (President Herbert) Hoover," Romney said. "He's going to have a hard time putting perfume on this pig." Hoover held office from 1929 to early 1933, at the outset of the Great Depression.
Despite stimulus measures by the Obama administration, Congress and the Federal Reserve, unemployment has remained high, peaking at 10.1 percent in October 2009 and staying around 9 percent for most of 2011.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another Republican seeking Obama's job, noted that a major part of the sharp drop in the unemployment rate was "not because entrepreneurs were creating new jobs" but because some 300,000 Americans "have simply given up looking for work."
"The Obama model of class warfare, government takeovers in the economy and creating fear and uncertainty for job-creators have failed," Gingrich asserted.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., made a similar point about discouraged jobless workers and said, "My heart breaks as we approach the holidays for American families who have been abandoned by this president so that he can implement his radical agenda."
The president didn't try to take credit for the lower figures.
Asked about Obama's measured response, White House press secretary Jay Carney said: "We don't make much out of one month's numbers. We look for trends, and we know we have an enormous amount of work to do. 8.6 percent unemployment is way too high."
Still, "there's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel" for gloomy Democrats, said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University. "It's good news, but it's the kind of thing you have to rejoice about quietly. You don't want to hear the champagne corks popping. There's still so many people unemployed."
But Baker said that if Obama can demonstrate a "reasonable decline over time" in the jobless rate, people might give him the benefit of the doubt. "It doesn't have to get to historical lows to convince people that you're on the right track."
No president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has been re-elected with a jobless rate higher than 8 percent. Roosevelt won re-election in 1936 with a rate of 16.6 percent, and again in 1940 with a rate of 14.6 percent ? but joblessness was on the way down from a peak of around 25 percent.
The jobless rate peaked at 10.6 percent during the brutal 16-month 1981-82 recession while Ronald Reagan was president. But on Election Day 1984 it had fallen to 7.2 percent.
Obama used a joint appearance with former President Bill Clinton on Friday to renew his call to a fractured Congress to extend and expand the cut in the payroll tax that finances Social Security and Medicare. The tax cut, due to expire at the end of the year, affects more than 160 million Americans.
Republicans favor extending the tax cut, but have blocked Democratic attempts to do so by paying for it with a new tax on households with more than $1 million in annual taxable income.
With polls showing most Americans favor higher taxes on the wealthy to help bring down soaring budget deficits, Obama and congressional Democrats are portraying Republicans as defenders of the wealthy at the expense of the middle class ? a political theme they're sure to carry into the election year.
The jobs report comes during a week that saw solid stock market gains, including a near-500-point Dow Jones industrials rise on Wednesday, all potential good news for Obama.
"Let's say the stock market goes up another 500 or 600 points, and unemployment goes down below 8 percent by Election Day. That could allow for a big Obama surge," said Thomas Cronin, a presidential historian at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo.
But that "if" is a big one.
The prospects of significantly bringing down the jobless rate to pre-recession levels anytime soon "remain slim," suggests University of Maryland business economist Peter Morici. "The economy must add 13.1 million jobs over the next three years_364,000 each month_to bring unemployment down to 6 percent."
___
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomraum
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
'Friday Night Lights' Star Zach Gilford Is Engaged!
The actor proposed to girlfriend Kiele Sanchez! See more stars who are planning to tie the knot
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Treasurys drop after Europe auctions go well (AP)
NEW YORK ? Treasury prices are lower after France and Spain had successful auctions of new debt.
The strong demand for French and Spanish bonds eased fears in the markets about Europe's debt problems. That diminished the appeal of ultra-safe U.S. government debt, sending yields on Treasurys slightly higher.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.10 percent Thursday from 2.08 percent late Wednesday. Its price fell 25 cents per $100 invested.
Demand for safety assets was also weakened after Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank president, made comments in a speech to the European Parliament suggesting that the ECB was prepared to play a larger role in addressing Europe's debt crisis.
The yield on the 30-year bond rose to 3.10 percent from 3.06 percent. Its price fell 71.9 cents.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
China military condemns US-Australia military pact (AP)
BEIJING ? America's strengthened military pact with Australia is a figment of "Cold War thinking" that will destabilize the Asia-Pacific region, China's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, in Beijing's strongest criticism yet of a move widely seen as intended to counter China's rising assertiveness.
Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng's comments at a monthly news conference came short of the scathing attacks on the agreement from China's nationalist press and outspoken academics.
However, they reflected a harsher tone from the armed forces, whose expanding budget and reach have rattled many of China's neighbors and prompted them to seek strengthened alliances with the region's dominant military power, America.
"Military alliances were created by history. We think that all moves to strengthen and expand military alliances are a product of Cold War thinking that run counter to the era's trend of peace, development and cooperation," Geng said.
Despite that criticism, Geng said Chinese and U.S. defense officials will still meet for consultations Dec. 7. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, the People's Liberation Army's deputy chief of staff, and U.S. Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy will be co-chairs.
Ma will then go to New Delhi for China-India defense and security consultations on Dec. 9, Geng said.
The U.S.-Australia agreement, announced during a November visit by President Barack Obama to Australia, will send military aircraft and up to 2,500 Marines to northern Australia for a training hub to help allies and protect American interests across Asia.
Beijing's previous official responses, issued by its Foreign Ministry, were a mild questioning of its appropriateness.
Chinese hardliners have called recent U.S. moves in Asia, including strengthened military ties with allies Japan and the Philippines as well as former enemy Vietnam, a new U.S. containment policy that must be resisted through more active diplomacy.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
This week, Egyptians braved brutal beatings in Tahrir Square in search of democracy and freedom while Americans braved violence in Wal-Marts in search of cheap Black Friday appliances: #resetyourvalues. On the campaign trail, latest GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich came under fire for using the word "humane" in a debate answer about illegal immigration and suggesting we should adopt a policy to avoid tearing apart families. Apparently, erring on the side of humanity doesn't sit well with "family values" voters. And, in a demonstration of the kind of real-time, crowd-sourced creative commentary only possible on the Internet, the UC Davis campus cop who heartlessly pepper-sprayed peaceful protesters became a viral meme, depicted spraying everyone from Gandhi to George Washington to a baby seal to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel God. It got so big, even the Hitler Reacts meme felt compelled to weigh in. Very meta. And wickedly funny.
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Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sunday-roundup_209_b_1114206.html
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